The Ireland class of 2009 became only the second from the Emerald Isle to claim a European clean sweep of rugby on Saturday, beating Wales 17-15 in Cardiff for the first Irish Grand Slam since 1948, courtesy of Ronan O'Gara's late drop goal.
England followed up last weekend's earth-shattering improvement with a bitty 26-12 victory over Scotland as they reclaimed the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham on Saturday.
France banished the ghost of Twickenham past at the first attempt as they demolished Italy 50-8 at Stadio Flaminio on Saturday.
Ireland's dream of ending 61 years of Grand Slam hurt remains on the cards as they ground out a scrappy 22-15 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Wales set up a championship showdown with Ireland in Cardiff next week, beating Italy narrowly 20-15 in Rome and leaving themselves with a bigger job to do next week than ought to have been necessary.
Ireland are now the only team left who could land a Six Nations Grand Slam, after they beat England 14-13 in a miserable encounter at Croke Park on Saturday.
Italy will surely finish bottom of this year's Six Nations after a 26-6 defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday, and questions must surely be asked at FIR headquarters over the continued tenure of Nick Mallett as Head Coach.
