SCHMIDT WARNS CHAMPS: BEWARE THE BACKLASH
IRELAND boss Joe Schmidt warned his Six Nations champions that England will be desperate to spoil their Grand Slam party.
A year after England’s dream of a clean sweep was shot down in Dublin, the boot is on the other foot at Twickenham this Saturday.
“They’re going to be ready for us,” Schmidt (right) said after the Irish crushed Scotland 28-8 at the Aviva Stadium. “They’re going to be really dangerous.”
The bonus-point victory brought Ireland their third title in five years with a round to spare, and will leapfrog them above England into the No.2 spot behind New Zealand in the world rankings. But Schmidt remains wary of Eddie Jones’ wounded team and will stress to his players that their job is incomplete.
He said: “We’ve got to get over there and hit our ‘A’ game from the start, because there’s going to be an extraordinary resolve amongst that English contingent after those two away losses.
“For a team who had lost one game in 25 to suddenly be on the back of back-toback losses, that is going to make them incredibly keen to make sure they deny us what we denied them last year.
“The personnel they have, they have an exceptional level. They have extreme pace in their backs and great experience in their halves.” Home advantage has proved telling in this championship and England have not lost a Six Nations game at Twickenham since Wales won there in 2012. But Ireland are at the top of their game, with Garry Ringrose back fit and firing in midfield, and wing Jacob Stockdale (third-left, below) having already equalled the single-season championship try record with six.
Scotland, as blunt in attack as they were sharp against England, did contribute to their own downfall, however, so Irish captain Rory Best will keep his men on their toes.
“Whenever you put yourselves in the position to win ‘everything’, effectively, in this Six Nations, this great championship, it becomes massive,” he said.
“We’re going to have to probably save the best for last – that’s what it’s going to take to win.”