We caught up with our friend, the wonderful Sean Maloney from Rugby HQ to get his thoughts on the first three rounds of the Six Nations championship and inquire whether the powers of the Southern hemisphere would be unduly worried by anything they've seen thus far.
While he lavished praise on Johnny Sexton's game, he had little time for the notion that the Irishman is currently out on his own as the greatest fly-half in the game.
No, that's crazy chat. That's crazy chat! We're locked and loaded down this end of town (southern hemisphere) we've heaps of guys who are class. I was lucky enough to call up to the Western Force Hurricanes to the other night and even seeing the way Beauden Barrett goes about his work, a good running ten who can kick beautifully as well and then there's Cruden... Even Handre Pollard I think would have Johnny's measure.
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Despite being impressed by the Wales-England game, he still expects Australia to escape the pool of death and he has very high hopes for Ireland in the autumn...
Our (Australia) fortunes will depend on our Tight Five. If the Five can get it sweet in the rough conditions of the World Cup and if they can adjust their gameplan - the last time we spoke I touched on it - Cheika's going to have to work out a way to combine the skill-set he has with his Super Rugby players and transplant that across to Test Rugby and just pick and choose their moments little better.
If they can do that I reckon we can pop Wales and then England will be the danger game for us so... look I reckon we can get through, I reckon we can roll Wales because we've it over them so strongly in recent times, I think that can continue...
As far as you guys (Ireland) roll, there's going to be no dramas obviously getting out of your pool and I'd be happy to push you through to the semis without too much drama whatsoever.
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On the overall standard of the Six Nations he feels that after the dramatic opener, the quality has 'slid a little bit'
Listen to the audio below.
I began by asking what he thought of the championship so far, and in particular Ireland's performances.
[audio mp3="https://media.balls.ie/uploads/2015/03/Sean-Maloney-Interview1.mp3"][/audio]
