‘We want to win as much as England’
Rory Best insists Ireland’s motivation is about more than derailing Eddie Jones’ history-chasing Chariot
RORY BEST says his Ireland team won’t be lacking for motivation as they look to finish a disappointing Six Nations campaign on a high by beating champions England today.
Eddie Jones’ men arrived in Dublin yesterday chasing a second successive Grand Slam and a world record 19th win in a row, and while the Irish camp have been keen to downplay their role as party-poopers, they are intent on victory.
Defeat to Wales last weekend ruled out Ireland’s chances of winning the tournament and they risk finishing as low as fifth if they suffer defeat today.
Perhaps more importantly, if they lose and Wales beat France in Paris, then they will drop out of the top four in the world rankings and lose their top seeding in May’s World Cup 2019 pool draw.
Ireland have not lost a Six Nations match at home under Joe Schmidt, and Best is keen to preserve that record at the Aviva Stadium this evening.
“Big games always require a massive physical effort obviously but it requires real, real mental strength because it’s going to come down to fine margins,” said Best (pictured).
“A lot of it is the team which makes the fewest mistakes will win. The team that have the mental fortitude and courage to go out and take those opportunities when they are there will also win so from that side of things it does take a massive one.
“They’re playing for a Grand Slam, but we’ve got a home record we want to keep intact. We’re back in front of our home fans.
“There has been a lot made about this game so there is pressure on from that side for us.
“Look, ultimately we want to finish with a massive result. I don’t think that their want is any more than ours.”
“We’re well aware of what England are going for tomorrow, but for us it’s St Paddy’s weekend, we’re at home and we have a very proud record at home as well, and we take huge confidence from that.
“We have focused on how to beat England, we haven’t focused on the reasons why we’ll beat them.
“We’ll beat England because we’re pulling on a green jersey, because we’re at home and we expect probably a better, more consistent performance over the 80 minutes than we’ve delivered so far in this Championship.”
The loss of Conor Murray is a major blow to Ireland’s chances, with Connacht scrum-half Kieran Marmion making his first Six Nations start.
And the Ireland captain knows that the forwards have a role to play in making the step-up as comfortable as possible.
“It is a massive day for him,” he said. “You just have to look at the way he’s performing, not just last season, but this season for Connacht
“It is something he deserves. He is very unlucky he is behind a real world-class No 9.
“It is his day. We always talk that you get your opportunity along the line through someone else’s misfortune. His opportunity has come now.
“I am pretty sure the half-backs will want the pack going forward.
in the games. Where we’re seeing him at the moment is that he could cause a lot of trouble when teams are starting to fatigue.
“Conor is probably a little more classic. He kicks well, passes well, he understands the game, he deals with the pressure very well and I still think he has a fair bit of an edge in relation to his passing and kicking game over Kieran at the moment.”
The other big concern for Ireland is their lineout, where another Schmidt stalwart is absent from the starting XV, although Devin Toner will see some time off the bench.
After losing three key balls in Cardiff, it is a curious call to remove the totem of your set-piece and not introduce a jumping backrow, and it makes Rory Best’s life all the more difficult as he faces an English pack containing three second-rows.
“You’ve just got to be smarter with where you go,” the captain said. “There’s no point trying to take them on head-on. We’ve got to be able to manipulate things and back each other.
“We felt when we looked back at the game last week there were our own errors that caused the three lineout losses.
“That’s where you’ve got to be better and that’s the 1pc we talk about that can make a massive difference at this level.”
Ireland don’t feel like they’ve been far away in their defeats, but their margin for error closes hugely this evening. England bring with them a formidable team to go with their winning record.
Up front, their tight five is the match of anyone’s, while their back-row pack plenty of power on both sides of the ball.
Ben Youngs is a scrum-half who can thrive on front-foot ball, while George Ford and Owen Farrell are combining as part of the best passing 10-12 axis in European rugby. Outside them, there is blistering pace that will exploit any Irish narrowness.
How does Ireland’s threat match up? Their tight five should hold their own in the scrum, whereas their lineout looks deficient. Their back-row lacks height and is in need of a big outing after being outplayed by the Wales combination, while Marmion and Johnny Sexton have never started together.
Their centres are excellent young players who are still growing together, while their back-three sees one class act replace another as Jared Payne comes in for Rob Kearney.
The New Zealander is an intriguing addition and if he can replicate his performances from the summer tour to South Africa, when he added a new attacking dimension from the No 15 jersey, he adds creativity in attack. Whether he can do it again in the white heat of Six Nations battle remains to be seen.
Much depends on the quality of ball Ireland’s pack can provide to their backs, especially given
England’s form for disrupting at set-piece and dominating the collision zone.
As if it wasn’t already a difficult task for Ireland, the addition of Billy Vunipola and Anthony Watson makes life even tougher.
DIFFICULT
The pair have always been difficult for Schmidt’s side to handle, with the No 8 a force of nature with a sumptuous passing game and the Bath winger capable of taking most Irish defenders on the outside.
Facing up to his brilliant son, defence coach Andy Farrell has his work cut out. Ireland have struggled against teams playing with width and in that regard this will be a huge test.
Ireland’s line-speed will be key; their ability to cut off clean supply to Youngs and preserve the gainline will determine whether the English can get their game going; if they get momentum they will be difficult to stop.
With the Lions tour taking the best players for the summer, Schmidt’s Ireland won’t reconvene as a full-strength group until November. That’s eight months to stew on a campaign that has failed to live up to its promise.
Beating England won’t fix their disappointment, but it will ease the pain and pressure.
Unfortunately for Schmidt, the perfect performance has evaded his team to date and the loss of Murray makes it even more difficult to attain.
History is within the visitors’ grasp and they’ve let nothing pass them by on Jones’ watch yet.
Ireland stand in their way, but they have their own goals to focus on.
The bottom half of the table looms if they can’t produce something special. That fear may not be enough against this quality English side.