No you couldn't, the proof is that you didn't. Or are you saying that your team didn't bother taking points that they could have scored? If so surely it is them lacking passion?
I'd be intrigued by your definition of passion because it's not the same thing as being clinical. I'm not saying we didn't bother, I'm saying we didn't execute well enough. We had three overlaps and two huge clean breaks all of which were bombed by Shane Williams, it's on the tape - watch it... if you dare
Not true, a french moment of genius cost Ireland the Grand Slam, Ireland losing momentum and letting in a soft try lost them the championship. To blame the TV schedule for their loss is simply nonsense, if they wanted to win they needed the biggest points difference they could get yet they still let in a soft try at the end because it made no difference to their win.
I think you misunderstood, I meant the French try at the end of their game with Ireland, which if they hadn't have conceded would have made the final weekend a formality.
If only it was that simple. Yes they have been badly coached, yes it seems to be impossible for the coach to get the right balance between experience and enthusiasm but Ashton stated clearly when he took the job that the first thing he wanted to do was start to rebuild "Fortress Twickenham" again. He has done exactly that and despite one or two very odd decisions he has certainly made an improvement in English Rugby.
Honestly if I was Wales or Ireland going to Twickenham, I wouldn't be afraid, one win against a clearly off par French side (who weren't allowed to play well by England anyway) doesn't make it a fortress, but that's over shadowing the point. The point is consistency, in the last decade it's not something you've struggled with up until the last few years. You're in a huge transition period and it comes down to style of playing, which imo Ashton is getting wrong for two reasons. 1.) You don't have a genuine leader in your team to make difficult decisions and certainly not one who will be in the team for 5+ years. 2.) All the older players (barring Catt) only know one way to play and it's not Ashton's way, he's opened a huge can of worms by trying to re-style players that are too old or too ingrained in the traditional English system to change. It would take a decade, seriously, to change the way a whole country thinks and plays. That's why he didn't work out in Ireland and it's why you'll keep having ups and downs. I know I've slated England a lot for the way they play in the past, but that's your game - going away from it won't do you any favours.
Then how come they lost to (in your opinion) the worst team in the championship?
The worst team in the championship was Scotland and I never said differently, plus the loss of one game in two championships is consistent enough for me
If Rugby is religion how come you are happy about beating England when you put in such a dismal performance throughout the rest of the championship? And I'd say that in International Rugby teams make their own luck, Italy have a long way to go but they certainly performed better than Wales this year.
I disagree about Italy, they were hammered by France and Ireland, teams we pushed relatively close, lost to England who we beat
and then we should at least have had a draw against them in Rome. For the rest of their years in rugby none of the Italians will ever get a start like they did against Scotland, and if Scotland had taken their shots at goal they wouldn't have lost anyway. So two aberrations aside, what did Italy do? Not a lot, if anything they looked less incisive than last year.
So Wales. Of course we were happy about beating England, it's a big game every year whether we're winning a grandslam or contesting
D ) the wooden spoon. That'll never change. There were calls for Jenkins head after we lost our first three games and the amount of criticism received by a Welsh coach is twice that of any other coach in the international game, never let there be any doubt about that. I don't think it mattered who we beat if it hadn't been you, there were several factors for optimism. The first was the style of play, much better than anything we've played so far under GJ, Hook at 10 looks like an incumbent for years, we scored tries!, our forward pack went well, we stood up to be counted and avoided a probably deserved wooden spoon. The Welsh game is a perpetual cycle of hope and dismay, impossible to satisfy for more than a season yet we keep coming back - that's why it's religion because it is inextricably linked with the people every single day of every single year.
I know NZ have a history of peaking early and choking when it matters, but I also remember you saying that England would never win it four years ago and look how wrong you were then.
Anyone can win the lottery, especially such a small one
And if you want to give them the WC go ahead, personally I think whoever wins will have to earn this one.
Grrrrrr 
