Ireland skipper targets Grand Slam glory
Turmoil on and off the field and rampant visitors make this a defining moment in the Jones era
From Super Saturday to Salvation Saturday, England are heading into unfamiliar territory despite the home terrain of Twickenham. Far from tilting for a Grand Slam in a head-to-head with their jaunty opponents, England are looking for a measure of atonement and a restoration of credibility.
Under Eddie Jones, they have been used to wearing emperor’s clothes, regal and imperious, lording it over others. Across a crisislashed month, they have been stripped of that persona, revealed as mortal and vulnerable.
Appearance and reality is the motif of what is the most significant day in the England tenure of Eddie Jones. Can they regain their status or is the fall from grace to continue, putting any 2019 World Cup ambitions into serious review? A blip or a deep blob? England could finish the Natwest 2018 Six Nations as low as fifth in the table, an unprecedented and calamitous state of affairs. It would be a stain on all their CVS. Factor in, too, the furore round Jones’s cack-handed comments about Wales and Ireland last summer and a perfect storm begins to gather over Twickenham.
All of which is the flip situation for Ireland. With sweeping success registered at Cheltenham and St Patrick’s Day to toast, the Irish fans arrive at Twickenham primed to salute their emerald heroes and perhaps to celebrate only a third Grand Slam in their history.
That the 2009 golden generation of the O Boys, O’driscoll, O’connell and O’gara, have been so quickly replenished with the likes of halfbacks Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray, tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong, a rejuvenated Keith Earls and tyro flyer Jacob Stockdale is quite something. There were 61 years between the previous Irish Slams and, quite rightly, there were taunts of under-achievement levelled at Ireland. Not so under Joe Schmidt, who has helped win three championship titles in his five years. A
Slam would be the crowning approbation. New Zealander Schmidt is an All Black head-coach-in-waiting.
It comes to something when instinct tells you that Ireland come to Twickenham as slight favourites despite England not having lost a Six Nations game there since 2012. It has been the manner as much as the fact of England’s mini-slump that has provoked such heretical pronouncements.
Jones, at least, has been decisive in selection, making 10 changes, seven in personnel and three positional. It is a shake-up designed to bring not only a different tactical approach, with more structure through the kicking of scrum-half, Richard Wigglesworth, the acumen and street wisdom of Owen Farrell and the thrust of Ben Te’o, but also to clear the cobwebs.
England insist that they remain tight-knit and upbeat. Fair enough. It would be wrong to airbrush their pre-murrayfield record from history, 24 wins in 25 Tests, as if it were a crazed imagining. The news buzz around England’s decline is a back-handed tribute to their success.
Jones’s side have found themselves in a muddle, lacking intelligence in their response to on-field scenarios, particularly at the breakdown. Of course, there is plenty of strategic input to the modern game, and Schmidt’s teams are grooved to perfection, but this is a time for England to bare their teeth and unleash the dogs of war.
Ireland did it 12 months ago when England came to Dublin with a Slam in their sights, likewise Wales in Cardiff in 2013 when that “little s--- place”, as Jones put it, showed itself to be a country of passion, dreams and ferocious shrewdness. England have to rekindle their rage. If they do not, they are doomed.
They still lack balance in the back row where Ireland look to have an edge, one that might prove decisive if Peter O’mahony, CJ Stander and Dan Leavy gel as they have been doing.
Above all, England have to carry the ball harder and smarter. On that rests so much. Ireland have five of the top 10 carriers in the championship, Stander, Leavy, Stockdale, Bundee Aki and Rob Kearney while England have only two in Chris Robshaw and Jonny May. England’s discipline, a factor of the uncertainty in their game, needs huge improvement.
But for all the misgivings, England also need to remind themselves of their previous prowess: unbeaten at Twickenham under Jones, not lost three championship matches in a row since 2006, four straight home wins over Ireland.
Sure, Ireland themselves are a fine side with a record 11 victories on the bounce to their name. But they will have to earn their Slam, showing power and craft and fortitude, and if they manage it, then it will be wholly merited.
England are not a poor team although they have had too many poor spells. This is their shot at redemption, Ireland’s at glory.