GEORGE: WE MUST BE READY TO SCRAP WITH THE SCRAPPERS
Jamie George insists England must be ready to fight for every inch against Ireland’s “scrappers” today.
The Six Nations reaches a critical juncture with events at Twickenham helping to shape a title race that Eddie Jones’ men are marginal favourites to win, despite losing to France on the opening weekend.
One of Ireland’s strengths is the ferocious commitment of their forwards, who are wily operators on the floor, and George knows what is coming against Grand Slam-chasing opponents.
“It’s attritional and that’s what you expect from Ireland,” Saracens and Lions hooker George said.
“If you look at any Irish club team, they make you fight for absolutely everything and it’s the same with the national team. They are, to a man, scrappers.
“They make you fight for everything and we’re fully prepared for that. Physicality is something we’ve been speaking about this week.
“When we’ve played well against these guys we’ve fronted up physically. That’s got to be at the forefront of our minds.
“We know we need to beat them if we’re going to win the title. We didn’t get off to the best start but we laid some foundations against Scotland and we’ve built on those over the last couple of weeks.
“We’re expecting to produce a different level to what you’ve seen from us already in this Six Nations.”
U2 singer B o n o ma d e a motivational visit to the Irish camp at the start of the week and England have since decided which pop star they would like to see.
“We actually spoke about this. If Ed Sheeran is listening then he’s always welcome into camp! We’d make him a coffee and make him feel at home,” George said.
Meanwhile, Johnny Sexton has warned that Ireland may need to surpass their monumental Grand Slam-clinching performance of two years ago to enjoy moretwickenham glory against England.
“With a Grand Slam on the line, and to put in a performance that we did that day was extra special. It’s going to take probably better than that to go and do the same,” said 34-year-old Sexton.
“I think they’re in a much better place. They’ve obviously been to a World Cup final.
“They’re talking about wanting to be the best team ever.
“I think they were going through a poor Six Nations that time whereas they’ve got everything to play for this time.
“They’re just further along the road with Eddie Jones as well.”