Once again, the Six Nations Championship this year has shown the colour and drama of Northern Hemisphere rugby and, while it probably has to be admitted that the skill levels are not the same as those in the South, it is perfectly clear to me that we have the single most important international rugby tournament outside the world cup right here in Europe.
I watched the last round of the matches from the comforts of the clubhouse of my local club here in Yorkshire and, while gratified by the England-Scotland result, it was noticeable how many more packed in for the final match of Wales against Ireland.
The majority of the collective were cheering for the Irish and the amount of tension abroad in the bar when Stephen Jones' last penalty was awarded was amazing – I haven't seen anything like it since November 2003.
I just can't imagine what it was like in Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Limerick et al. That final game was the epitome of all that is good about the championship.
Before the start of the campaign, I rather foolishly put my neck on the line with a prediction of the finishing places. Let's go back and have a look at how I did...
Champions: Ireland
My prediction: third
I hold my hands up on this one. Declan Kidney seems to have got this set of Irish stars right in the head in the way that Eddie O'Sullivan never quite seemed to manage.
The Irish team had their struggles and their mental wobbles – notably Ronan O'Gara's poor kicking game (for him) in the match against England but, whenever this happened, and to whomever in the team this happened, there was always someone to take charge and to drive the team forward.
Ireland are the deserved grand-slam champions and should enjoy and celebrate as much as they want.
Runners-up: England
My Prediction: runners-Up
I said at the start that the England team weren't as bad as people were making out.
Rugby writers in the UK (largely English) media are usually accused of either bigging the lillywhites up too much based on one performance – as after the France game – or smashing them down under the same conditions.
Writers and bloggers have criticised Martin Johnson for using a large number of the ‘old guard’ players and not throwing away the Six Nations for three years in the hope that a group of young kids can battle their way through the intensity of big matches to win through in 2011. Anyone who knows about teams and coaching knows that continuity is the key, and that wholesale changes never work.
Johnson in my view is on the right track, but England were still pretty lucky to finish where they did, and there is plenty more to work on.
Third: France
My prediction: third
It seems that each of the teams in this year’s championship have reverted to type – obviously with the exception of the no-longer-chokers Ireland – and France have cliched their way to third place.
Marc Lievremont's interminable tinkering with team selection didn't help, and their notorious mental frailty at Twickenham raised its head in spectacular style.
The French on that day pressed the reddest of big red self-destruct buttons, and yet the esprit de clocher meant that they were excellent in Paris against Wales.
Have they moved on since Bernard Laporte went into politics? I don't think so...
Fourth: Wales
My prediction: champions
To put it in some kind of perspective, the tightness of the top four in the final table were such that, if Wales had scored just nine more points at the right time in their five games, they would have been champions, whereas if they had had 15 more points scored against them at the right time, they'd have got the wooden spoon!
Fourth place is considered a poor showing for any team with ambitions to make a credible play for major honours in the not-too-distant future, but Wales shouldn't be too disheartened. They have some excellent players in their squad, and they have won this title twice already this century.
Wales are not a bad team and, in many ways, I feel they are going through some of the tribulations that England did back in 1999 when, expecting to make a play for the World Cup, they were knocked out in the quarters by South Africa.
Rather than be cowed by this, the English went on to win in 2003 and, with the right motivation and coaching, Wales can use this disappointing position to build towards something much greater.
And who is to say they haven't already got that coaching team in place?
Fifth: Scotland
My prediction: fifth
Scottish rugby has a lot of problems at the moment and, unless their playing numbers increase massively, I can't see the Scots doing anything very much in this championship for a long while.
They can get themselves motivated for victories against the auld enemy at Murrayfield but anything else seems to be way out of their zone at the moment.
Only the Italians are saving their blushes at the moment and, let’s face it, this is really only because the Italians haven't got any backs.
Frank Hadden's job has come under scrutiny in the media of late but, to be honest, it's hard to think that anyone else would be able to do a better job in the circumstances.
Wooden spoon: Italy
My prediction: wooden spoon
Nick Mallett is one of those coaches who had a great reputation – but this year has done a great deal of damage to that reputation.
By asking Bergamasco to play scrum-half in the first game, Mallett openly suggested that international experience was considerably more important than any positional knowledge.
By refusing to select Paul Griffen in that position because of his age and the notion that he wasn't the future for that position, he either showed contempt for the Six Nations as a competition or a complete lack of understanding of the game of rugby.
It is the mark of the character of Bergamasco that he came back and played well in his normal position and wasn't irrevocably damaged by that horror show.
We should bear in mind that the Italians are still a young rugby playing nation, and their attempts to increase the exposure of their better players to higher intensity matches by attempting to join the Magners League shows at least that the powers that be know what they want and how to get it.