WHAT a match.

It had it all - passion, drama, excitement, skill. And, finally, Wales did not have to go home with just a moral victory.

But it's another year, yet more tip tackle controversy.

Quite what Bradley Davies was thinking taking a man out off the ball in that fashion remains a mystery.

Did the Warburton World Cup controversy teach Welsh players nothing?

Davies was fortunate he did not receive a red card and was merely sin-binned.

It started that horrible feeling of "here we go again", didn't it?

That miserable blood pressure spike followed by the shaking of heads.

The unwanted flashback to the World Cup semi final.

It detracted from the great tries, brilliant breakdown work by players like Tipuric, sheer magic of George North, and just what an epic match the Ireland game was.

We were lucky that Ferris made yet another tip tackle error to give us our winning penalty.

Wales actually won a match at the death - we didn't throw the chance away.

Time for us all to lie down in a darkened room.

MEMO to Warren Gatland: put them back in the Polish freezer before the next match. It obviously works.

ONE of the highlights of the first Six Nations weekend was being reminded of referee Nigel Owens' inimitable, no-nonsense style.

"It's no good holding up your hands at me," he told an Italian player penalised for not rolling away from the ruck in the Paris match, while holding up his own arms in mocking fashion.

It's fair to say everyone knows where they are with Owens.

Ask Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins, who once went head-to-head in an Ospreys v Blues match which saw major problems with scrums collapsing.

"You two are supposed to be the best in the world," Owens said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Keep it up and there won't be any scrums left in a few years," he warned.

Don't hold back, Nigel. Tell it like it is.

AND finally...

Few can be surprised that two countries who have brutally suppressed opposition to their ruling regimes, Russia and China, would use their veto to prevent a United Nations resolution placing sanctions on Syria and calling for the resignation of President Assad.

But this is not just about protecting their vested interests abroad. Every dictator, every ruler who rigs their voting system, must be terrified about what could await them when their own people become inspired by those who laid down their lives in the name of freedom in Homs or Tripoli.