England remain a work in progress and will continue to frustrate until they stop wasting chances

An uneven, sometimes monotonous, Six Nations championship will now go down to the wire, in a final round that will guarantee excitement and angst.

That it is so is due to an almost preternatural defensive display Wales produced in their 23-16 win over title favourites Ireland.

It was an outstanding, attritional, game that went some way to compensating for some of the disappointing rugby that has taken place thus far.

Led, in every way possible, by captain Sam Warburton, the Welsh tackling brought the Irish and themselves to a standstill.

But that is not the whole story.

The initia…