Six Nations: That display of imperious Gallic style last Sunday means France is now the real deal

Ireland, once again, played like a smart team and my hunch that Wales might just do us never looked like it was going to happen. In truth the Welsh were awful and displayed an alarmingly bad attitude to the whole event.

I suspect the Irish press can take a lot of the credit for that since their description of Warren Gatland as a "menopausal warthog" certainly seemed to rattle him and he was like a cat on a hot tin roof all week.

I think it must have got through to the team who temporarily seemed to have lost their way. Too many crises of confidence and too many areas of the park are causing problems for them. They will be glad to get to the end of the tournament and write this one off.

Well weren't we the lucky ones to see the festival of rugby at Murrayfield! There's probably been enough said about this already but it was 80 minutes of total junk exacerbated by the worst refereeing performance I have ever seen.

It is simply unacceptable to take up to three minutes to set a scrum and I think everybody should get their money back. On the pitch, England still totally lacked confidence and Scotland have limited options and never looked like they were going to break the game line. In truth, both teams could have played for three hours and not scored a try.

In Paris on Sunday, France put on one of the best exhibitions I have seen from a Northern Hemisphere team for many years - they were simply imperious. Then, of course, in typical Gallic fashion, they pulled out a packet of Gauloise and took their foot off the gas for the last 20 minutes allowing Italy back into the game and it was of course to their credit that they didn't give up when they were effectively 6-0 down.

I do however believe that France are now the real deal and there will be some concerns from our Southern Hemisphere contemporaries as 2011 World Cup draws ever closer.

So onto this weekend. In Cardiff on Saturday it is all about after The Lord Mayor's show but I think Wales will have regrouped sufficiently to take care of the brawn that the Azzurri will throw at them in the first half. I fancy Wales to win by 10, with a possible reminder that they might show us what a good team they could be and what a missed opportunity 2010 has been for them.

In Dublin at teatime I think Ireland will have too much guile and cunning for Scotland and we ought to secure the Triple Crown. It is very unusual in my position as an Irish rugby fan to be glibly talking about Grand Slams one year and Triple Crowns the next and it does show you what progress Declan Kidney has made with his team.

He is a first class coach and the rugby authorities in Ireland ought to take great credit for how they have set up the structure of the game to help the national side. I suspect that Jonathan Sexton will be allowed to play a more expansive role on Saturday and I would look out for a big performance from him.

Finally then, onto Paris on Saturday night under the lights. As any of you know who read these blogs before, I have always had a sneaky feeling that England could do quite well in Paris but I am afraid to say I think MJ has just pressed the change button at precisely the wrong moment.

France have stepped up a gear and I cannot see anything other than a comprehensive French victory as I write this piece. I was hopeful that England might play a very defensive game, shove the ball up their jumper and frustrate the French but it doesn't look like that is how they will play so I think a French Grand Slam would be a very deserving finish to this year's championship.

I hope you've all enjoyed the blogs - they've been good fun to write and that we can all look forward to next year's countdown to the World Cup in New Zealand.

All best.