‘It was brutal’: Remembering 2006 and the last time England were this bad …
One year out from the Rugby World Cup and England begin their Six Nations with sporadically impressive wins over Wales and Italy. Then Scotland beat them to start a slump that is compounded in Paris. Sound familiar?
As Eddie Jones’ charges will do on Saturday, Andy Robinson’s crop of 2006 ended their tournament schedule by welcoming Ireland to Twickenham on St Patrick’s weekend. Then, like now, they were searching for some sort of redemption.
Jamie Noon featured in every game of that campaign at outside centre. He remembers Lawrence Dallaglio, a surviving totem from 2003, surging off the back of a late scrum to seal a 47-13 win over Wales in the opening match. Charlie Hodgson then guided a 31-16 success in Rome.
“Things were relatively buoyant,” Noon recalls. “But we lost in Scotland – it was p-----g down – and then got pumped 31-6 by France.”
Stuart Abbott replaced Mike Tindall to join Noon (right) in midfield for the final fixture. England’s 2005 Six Nations had included three losses and they were eager to avoid a repeat.
“Ireland had some serious players, so we weren’t automatically expected to win even though we were at home. Our big thing was to start well. When you do that, the rocky road that you might have been on starts to flatten out as players calm down and do their jobs.” England delivered on that aim. Lewis Moody rampaged after Andy Goode’s kick-off and the visitors spilled. From the ensuing scrum, Noon sliced through for his fourth Test try. Only two minutes had elapsed. “The feeling was that we were back, that our demons were behind us. It might have been more in hope than anything else, but we thought the France game had been a blip as opposed to a drastic slump.”
Having overturned Italy, Wales and Scotland, Eddie Sullivan’s Ireland still retained an outside chance of snatching the title from France. Shane Horgan swiftly replied and Ronan O’gara kicked the away team in front with a penalty. Noon’s involvement then ended in the 28th minute. An innocuous collision at the breakdown caused blood to stream from his forehead. England’s team doctor Simon Kemp intervened.
“I ended up getting a cut and went off with that initially but I wasn’t right,” Noon adds. “I was sick and Mike Tindall came on.”
Steve Borthwick struck back for
England but Denis Leavy scored on the hour-mark and Ireland would go on to prevail 28-24 as Horgan stretched over in the right-hand corner with 90 seconds remaining. It remains the last time England have lost three Six Nations encounters in succession.
“At the end we were devastated,” Noon says. “We’d worked really hard and thought we deserved to win, but Ireland came back into the game and we lost a bit of rhythm.
“After losing any game, you’re disappointed. Three on the bounce felt brutal.”
Noon believes that the current England set-up is on far more certain footing than their 2006 counterparts. Defeat to Joe Schmidt’s charges would severely test that theory.