England to go aerial
ENGLAND coach Steve Borthwick’s flirtation with a – relatively – more creative attacking game was horribly exposed in defeat by Scotland and he is likely to return to his tried and tested kicking approach in a bid to tame a rampant Ireland on Sunday.
Other than a well-crafted early first-phase try by Fraser Dingwall, England failed to deliver the new aspects of attack that Borthwick has been promising to “layer on” and they looked toothless and confused in a final quarter having been carved open three times by Duhan van der Merwe in a 30-21 defeat.
That came after comeback wins over Italy and Wales had briefly raised hopes of a Six Nations title challenge but now the 2023 World Cup semi-finalists look instead more likely to end the campaign with a feeble two wins for the fourth year in a row as they finish with a tough away game in France.
England find themselves in the unaccustomed position of being 4-1 outsiders on their own Twickenham patch, with Ireland a 6-1 ON shot to make it four championship wins in a row in the fixture.
A bonus-point win for Ireland will secure the title with a week to spare and send them into their final game at home to Scotland on a high as they seek a second successive grand slam.
They would be the country first to manage that in the Six Nations era and only the third after France (1997-98) and England (1991-92) in the last 100 years. Former British & Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton suggested that another convincing grand slam would make them the best Six Nations team of all time.
An Irish win would also set a Six Nations record of 12 successive victories, dating back to their defeat by France in the second game of the 2022 campaign.
Those numbers are a fair reflection of how Ireland are dominating European rugby, as are the scoring statistics that come from their relentlessly accurate all-court attacking game.
In the last three years in the Six Nations they average 35 points and almost five tries a game, while conceding 1.4 per match.