Calculation of default shipping rate based on default country

[ZeroPointLabs]

VirtueMart 3.0.8, Joomla 3.4.1, PHP 5.5.9

My shipping rules look a bit like this

Ireland	0-2 kg	10 EUR
Ireland	2-5 kg	20 EUR
Ireland	> 5kg	30 EUR
Not Ireland	0-2 kg	110 EUR
Not Ireland	2-5 kg	120 EUR
Not Ireland	> 5kg	130 EUR

I have ireland set at the default country by setting the default value of virtuemart_country_id under configuration->shoppper fields

If I create a fresh cart (new session, add product to cart, view cart) I see

• Bill to, just has Ireland
• Ship to has "Use the billing address for Shipping" selected
• In the pricelist area, nothing is select for shipping and the message "We are sorry, no shipment method matches the characteristics of your order." is shown

If I then fill in all the "bill to fields", in the pricelist area I see "Please select a shipment method" with a single radio button for the appropriate shipping method.

I have 2 questions.

1) How do I have the default shipping method selected without having to fill in the "bill to" fields. i.e. get the default address behave like a default address
2) Given each weight range/country combination only has 1 applicable shipping rate, how do I got the cart to auto select it?