A straight answer to a straight question.

Warren Gatland was asked today if he thinks Ireland are the the best team in the Six Nations so far. His answer? A blunt and resounding no.

Now before you say anything, lets be honest. He’s probably right. Ireland have been good this year. But as much as (most) of us hate to admit it, England still set the bar as defending champions.

“England are a tough outfit.” Gatland said

Ireland ground out a win away against France and that game showed us you have to keep your discipline against Ireland and I feel our discipline over the first two games has been excellent,”

As Gatland said, Ireland needed a moment of magic from Johnny Sexton to defeat the French. Other than that they were pretty ordinary in Paris. They were professional yes. And winning those types of games is a sign of a good team. But lets not get carried away.

As for the Italy game. Once again, yes Ireland went about their job quite well. But they conceded three tries against a pretty abysmal Italian outfit. Ireland have a long way to go before they can be considered the best team in the tournament.

A win this weekend and Ireland are on course…

But by god it’s early days yet.