The Ba's burst!

No, not the trams - I'm talking about Wales' Six Nations Grand Slam hopes.
I always thought the trip to Paris was the toughest of all of the Welsh fixtures this season, and so it proved. The French coach has been criticised for constantly tinkering with his team selections, with the result that French performances have been wildly inconsistent - brilliant one game, clueless the next.
He got it spot on last night, though, and despite a frantic last ten minutes that could have swung the result Wales way France were worthy winners. Their defence was heroic in a bruising encounter, they took their chances when they came and showed a desire to win that the Welsh couldn't match. All credit to them.
Wales can still win the Championship, and the final match of the tournament - against Ireland in Cardiff - looks like being the championship decider. I'm looking forward to that one already.
Meanwhile the Irish have the small task of England to deal with this afternoon. We know the way the English will play - they pushed Wales all the way last time out - but the Irish ave their tails up and I fully expect them to prevail this evening. They have the power up front - the English will not be able to dominate or bully them - and they have the flair players who can turn a game too. So Ireland to win, but it will be a slog and they'll have to battle all the way. A winning margin of 6 - 10 points, I'd wager.
And the basement battle between Scotland and Italy? This was always likely to be the 'wooden spoon' decider this term and so it's proving. The Italians have been dreadful at times, and you've got to think that even a pretty poor Scotland side should prevail this afternoon.
Our constant mistakes and unforced errors won't be punished by the Italians as they have been by the better sides, and - assuming our pack don't buckle in the alarming manner in which they did against Wales - our backs are likely to get plenty of opportunities.
Italian indiscipline has cost them dear too and, if we find points hard to come by in open play, penalties could make the difference. Scotland will win, and should do so relatively comfortably - not because we're good (we're not, far from it) but we're far less bad than the Italians. Scotland to win by 12 - 15 points.
Sadly, I won't see the Scotland game this afternoon as I'm off to Easter Road for some 'round ball' sporting entertainment. Expectations are not high (how many times have I said that about Hibs this season?) but they have really got to grind out a result against Falkirk this afternoon. To me, Hibs on current form won't finish in the top six place and that, for a club as big as Hibs, is not good enough.
Fingers crossed for some silky, flowing soccer - then again, a 1-0 with a dodgy penalty in injury time would suffice.