So that's it for another year.

The dust settles on the 2015 Six Nations and rugby returns to the domestic front. It has been a fascinating championship. After that incredible final day, I reckon that the championship got the right winners, although I'm not sure that the side which finished last deserved to be there. These are my thoughts on the teams - and their prospects for the World Cup ahead.

IRELAND. Simply the best. Ireland deserved the trophy because their side had the strongest spine. Key guys like Paul O'Connell, Sean O'Brien and Jonny Sexton made them tick and they are definitely contenders for the World Cup. They will need some luck, but they could go a long way.

Overall, they were the championship's class act. They have quality players and they do little wrong. O'Connell is an astonishing figure; his workrate is amazing. He seems to have been there for ever, but he is as good as he has always been.

Do they have a weakness? Traditionally, they have not been strong in the front row, but they did have a decent scrum this year. Sides like South Africa will target that part of their game, but they have disguised their shortcomings pretty well.

ENGLAND. Fair play, they put in a massive effort at the end and came up just short. Maybe it's a bit unfair that they knew where the bar had been set, but it made for an outstanding spectacle. I didn't expect England to get near the total, but they gave it their best. Did Nigel Owens bottle out at the end when the final maul went down? With a penalty try, England would have been champions.

At full strength, England will be there or thereabouts at the World Cup. George Ford has them playing more rugby than they used to. They have a quality backline and they can score a stack of tries. With more experience they will be a very good side. They are learning quickly, and that's the scary thing.

WALES. They got steadily better as the championship went on. They were poor against England in the first game and they were lucky to beat us in the second. But they picked up the pace after that and they finished on a high note. It was a real mixed bag of a tournament for them.

Their second half against Italy was stunning. They have an incredible set of backs and their locks and loose forwards have real class. Like all the Celtic nations, they struggle in the front row, and they will be targeted there because the scrum is still massively important. Wales have a habit of picking up momentum at World Cups. Warren Gatland will have them firing by September.

FRANCE. They have great players, but there seem to be problems on the coaching front. I like Philippe St Andre as an individual, but I'm not sure he is getting the best out of France at the moment. Those players should be doing better. Yoann Huget is an outstanding player.

France will always be able to field a bruising pack, but it was embarrassing to see them fail to impose themmselves on Italy in the tournament's penultimate round. It might be too late to make a change ahead of the World Cup, but you do wonder what that team could do if they got the right guy in charge.

ITALY. There's no doubt in my mind that Italy were flattered by their win against Scotland. Over the piece, I thought they were the worst team in the tournament. They have some strength up front, but their final game showed they are rudderless without Sergio Parisse.

Thee have a couple of decent players coming through, but I reckon they will struggle at the World Cup. I can't see them getting out of a group that includes France and Ireland. They also continue to struggle at fly-half, where they still haven't found a decent successor to Diego Dominguez.

They will be satisfied that they got a win, but they caved in against Wales and they should be worried about that.

SCOTLAND. This was one of the most frustrating tournaments ever. There was so much promise at the start, but it faded away as the Six Nations went on. Scotland got no luck, but they can hardly use that as an excuse. Yes, the refereeing against Wales was dodgy, but they should never have been beaten by Italy.

There were just too many errors in Scotland's play. They turned the ball over too often, and in the wrong positions. They were their own worst enemies. They did some good stuff in every game, but they lacked patience so they could not string the phases together.

Confidence seeped away after the Wales game. The mood seemed to change. They have got to get some self-belief back in the side if they are to do anything at the World Cup.