Eddie has given us belief
Youngs insists England can handle Irish onslaught
HERE IS how the story unfolds in Dublin for an England rugby player this weekend.
From the moment they arrive at the airport they will be told how good they are, how there is only one team who can win tonight and how the Grand Slam and record 19th win are all but theirs already. ‘Ah, but we’re lucky just to be on the same field as you fellas. We’ve no chance without Conor Murray’.
From the hotel receptionist, to the Gardai, to the gateman at the Aviva Stadium, the refrain will be the same. ‘Glad to have you along fellas, just go easy on our lads, eh?’
Their hosts will be deferential, the respect will be total, and then the first ball will soar into the sky … and wham. The collective ferocity will be like nothing England have felt before.
It will be mayhem, rampaging disorder on an industrial scale, with a green incinerator at work on their best-laid plans. England’s heads will be ringing from the impacts and the swelling, ethereal sounds of The Fields of Athenry around the stadium.
Eighty minutes later it will be over and they will have been mugged. ‘Well done on the championship fellas. Pity about the Grand Slam. Now, how about that pint of the black stuff?’
No one does the iron fist in a velvet glove better than Ireland. The warmest of welcomes, the most savage of assaults. England, having lost on six of their eight visits to Dublin in the Six Nations era, should know this. Certainly those survivors of the equivalent game six years ago do.
For Ben Youngs, one of that 2011 team, history serves as a useful reminder. But in his view it does not compare apples with apples. “We are,” he says, “a damned sight better now. With this side we’ve a lot of experience, but I also don’t see us necessarily being shocked by another team’s intensity.
“I like to think that the way we have attacked the last 18 games – not all the time, but the majority – we’ve come out with intent and intensity and done the right things. We’ll focus on the first 20 minutes and be looking to impose ourselves and our game rather than wait for the opposition to dictate the tempo. Those first 20 minutes are vital and we’ll put a massive emphasis on making sure we get those early exchanges right.” This England believe they have all bases covered. Their lineout should dominate today and if Johnny Sexton’s individual influence represents a threat, then Youngs reckons the visitors have a collective counter through their backline ball players. “Everything goes through Johnny. You’ve all seen the loop plays countless times. With someone like that, you know he’s going to play a key part,” he said. “But with us we’ve got George, Owen, Elliot, Mike Brown...suddenly there are quite a few distributors. “It’s very hard to target one because that gives