Sunday Times rugby correspondent Stephen Jones is an interesting sort of a chap. His articles have long had the ability to provoke debate but the advent of Twitter has real brought him to a new level of ire in the eyes of many Irish fans. His penchant for having a go at Munster fans for being bald and generally being an all round wind up merchant in the face of civility are legendary.
So, when the Sunday Times gathered together a panel and asked them for the you will understand our impending fear.
The end is nigh. Although, to be fair, as recently as November Jones did a gracious u-turn regarding his previously less than glowing opinion of Paul O'Connell.
Interestingly, three of the four man panel had Ireland down as winners. Alongside Jones was Lawrence Dallaglio and Shane Horgan. Stuart Barnes was the only one to suggest that Wales may edge out us out into second. So, the weight of Stephen Jones' expectation is on Ireland's shoulders. You could imagine previous manager's telling teams to 'go out and prove that (insert word of your choice here) wrong'. But to 'go out and prove him right'? We're not sure that's quite as good a motivational tool.
