Look out Dublin, England are back
YOUNGS FIRES WARNING
BEN YOUNGS has warned Ireland that England have got their mojo back.
A stodgy autumn and early Six Nations struggles were cast off by an exciting all-court performance against France at Twickenham that delivered a dramatic late win.
And now that England are finally in the groove, Youngs says the World Cup finalists intend to kick on against the Irish in Dublin on Saturday.
“It’s disappointing we didn’t hit the straps that we should have done at the start of the tournament,” said the scrum-half.
“It has been and gone now and there’s not a lot we can do about that. What is pleasing is that we have shown what we’re about and we’ve an opportunity to do it again this week.
“We’d love to be going to Dublin with something to win but we’ll still be there, fully committed and trying to build on what we did against France. The balance of run, kick, pass and counter-attack was really good.
That blend seemed to click nicely. It was a really good blueprint of not far off what we want to look like more consistently.”
The frustrations of England’s consistent failure to make full use of the talents at their disposal had been laid at Eddie Jones’ coaching doorstep, but Youngs, above, insisted: “It wasn’t a case of rewriting the script.We’ve been trying to attack like this since the autumn. It has taken a long while for some of it to come through. I’m really pleased we’re starting to see some of that training-pitch work coming to fruition in games.”
Flanker Peter O’Mahony is available to Ireland after completing his suspension following his red card against Wales. But centre Garry Ringrose (ankle) and second-row James Ryan (concussion) will miss out following injuries in the 27-24 win over Scotland on Sunday.
FRANCE have recalled prop Uini Atonio and centre Arthur Vincent for the game against Grand Slam-chasing Wales in Paris on Saturday. Both missed the England match after positive Covid tests.