Irish are set to Slam door shut Lancaster has fears for England’s glory bid
REPORTS STUART LANCASTER is tipping Ireland to stop the England side he helped build landing back-to-back Grand Slams and the world record of 19 successive victories that would go with it.
Eddie Jones’s predecessor, who is now with Irish provincial heavyweights Leinster, has gained sufficient insight into the psyche of Joe Schmidt’s leading players during his six months in Dublin to persuade him that they will have an Aviva Stadium ambush ready for England on the final day of the championship.
Lancaster won four games out of five against Ireland as England coach but was denied a Grand Slam in 2015 by a 19-9 away defeat.
“I think it will be tough for England to beat Ireland in Ireland,” said Lancaster. “They won’t be looking to England now but once the Wales page is turned and they are into the build-up to the England game, irrespective of how the results go in round four, it will be a huge game for them.
“They will certainly want to play well at home against England.
“I still think England will be hard to catch with four wins out of five – although they have to beat Scotland first and I think that will be tough too because the Scots have improved, as have all the sides in the championship this year.
“There were a lot of teams in 2016 who had gone through a transition since the World Cup, phasing various players out.
“A year on, sides have been through that transition and they have improved consequently.
“The games have been tight in competitive terms with all to play for. The gap between all the teams is reasonably close now.”
The squeeze in standards is reflected by the fact that, in their first season on offer, four losing bonus points for narrow defeats have been earned in the nine matches so far.
Take out Italy from the equation, with the Azzurri suffering heavy defeats at home to both Wales and Ireland before giving England a fright on Sunday, and that figure reads four from six.
From long range it always looked as if all roads would lead to Dublin and the final game to decide the destiny of the championship, but there have been sufficient twists and turns so far to make this tournament one of the most memorable in many years.
England remain the one unbeaten side but it has taken a final-quarter surge in each of their three fixtures to keep their run going, a fact that will concentrate minds as they prepare for their penultimate game against Scotland in 10 days’ time. England have not lost at Twickenham to the Scots for 34 years but, this season, they are no one’s idea of pushovers. Jones admitted: “We know we’re going to have a hard contest. They are going to come hard at the breakdown, it’s going to be a hard game of rugby.” The breakdown reference is particularly resonant for England after being spooked by Italy’s ghostruck on Sunday.
Henry Slade, who made a late appearance off the bench against the Azzurri, is the one casualty from the Affair of the Missing Offside Line, having been axed from the 27-man squad that gathered in Oxford last night.
The Exeter centre, who has struggled to win Jones over during his tenure having made just three bench appearances, makes way for the return of Jonathan Joseph, who played for Bath, rather than England, on Sunday.
Joseph will not be released back to Bath this weekend, which suggests he will be involved against Scotland, who have beaten both Wales and Ireland.
Bath will, though, have the rusty Anthony Watson available from the squad for club duty ahead of a possible call-up for the Calcutta Cup.
Another recent injury absentee, loosehead Mako Vunipola of Saracens, will also clock up some more time on the field in the Premiership, along with Kyle Sinckler of Harlequins, who was on the bench alongside him at Twickenham.
Leicester duo Ellis Genge and Mike Williams will be released for club rugby as well this weekend.