SEXTON AND SCHMIDT PROVIDE VOICES OF REASON
‘The English are proud people and they will be gunning for us,’ warns Johnny
FOR all he gained yesterday, Joe Schmidt had one significant loss. His voice was gone. The Ireland coach explained that it happened during the warm-up, as he roared instructions to his players. The message got through. If they were occasionally uncertain, Ireland were generally in control, and in powering through a spirited but slight Scottish challenge, they reduced the rest of the championship to a whisper.
There will be a roar or two mustered by England, of course, and their motivation comes neatly wrapped: a year ago, they came to Dublin on the fifth leg of their own Grand Slam tour, only to be consumed by the Irish machine.
Complacency would appear to be the greatest risk to Ireland’s prospects now, but then Johnny Sexton talked about the atmosphere among the players after the England match being muted.
He appeared within a quarter of an hour of the final whistle in Paris in his suit and tie, along with Schmidt. The coach had already done his post-match press conference with Rory Best, but returned to react to a third championship in five seasons under his management.
There they sat, the team’s most important player and the man who instructs them. No big nights on the town were in the offing; this pair, who share the most important relationship in Irish rugby, were already diverting their thoughts to London.
‘I’m sure, same as us, every time you pull on an international jersey at home in front of the Irish people, your family, your friends, you don’t need any more motivation,’ said Sexton, envisaging the attitude within the English camp.
‘I think that’s all the motivation you need. That was all our motivation last year. We definitely didn’t want to lose at home and definitely didn’t want to lose in front of those people I just spoke about.
‘I’m sure it will be the exact same for England. I know a lot of them personally from Lions trips and they are very, very proud people. They’ll be gunning for us,’ Sexton added.
England, despite their championship crumbling around them in the last two games, are still unbeaten at Twickenham under Eddie Jones; their three defeats have all been away from London.
First came that reversal in Dublin last year, then the surprise loss in the Calcutta Cup in Murrayfield a fortnight ago, and the latest was their no-show in Paris last night which confirmed Ireland as champions.
Schmidt was asked about going to the home of a team where they enjoy a long unbeaten stretch. He knows a bit about that; Ireland haven’t lost in Dublin in five Six Nations campaigns under him.
‘I guess history doesn’t protect you from the future,’ he shrugged. ‘We knew that today. We hadn’t lost in five years in the Six Nations here in Dublin. It didn’t protect us; we had to go out and win again. That’s all part of the challenge,’ Schmidt continued. ‘We need to go to Twickenham and try to test that record out, I guess. ‘It won’t be uppermost in our thinking because you can be distracted looking back when you need to be moving forward. ‘We didn’t feel our five-year run in the Six Nations here protected us. And I’m sure Eddie Jones and the boys will be fully focused on winning the game.’
Spoiling another team’s party is certainly a motivation, just as watching another side celebrate holds no attraction.
Gregor Townsend was asked if Ireland could win the Slam, and the Scottish head coach replied that he didn’t know. He didn’t say, ‘Or care less’, but it hung heavy and unspoken in the air.
The Scotland chief did acknowledge that going through a championship winning five games from five would be exceptional.
‘It would be huge. Ireland managed to get an away win against France, and on its own terms winning at Twickenham would be a huge achievement. To do it on the back of four games in a row would be a huge achievement.’
Over in Paris, Jones sounded something approaching humble when analysing the problems that have left his team mired. Were they to lose on Saturday, it would be their worst Six Nations since 2010.
Ireland, meanwhile, travel in search of 12 wins in a row; victory here against Scotland stretched their winning run to an unprecedented 11.
Schmidt leads this team across uncharter territory. Jones talks of improving and approaching the required standards once more.
‘We’re about two or three per cent away from where we need to be,’ he said. ‘We were beaten at the breakdown, we gave away 16 penalties which is far too many, and when we got momentum we didn’t convert it to points.
‘When they got momentum they converted it to points. It seems like a long way away but it’s not. You go through these periods as a team. We’re going through a difficult period at the moment, but we’ll get through it.’
They are good enough to reemerge into the light in six days’ time. But Ireland are good enough to stop them.