Focused Ireland brush off Eddie’s ‘mind games’
IRELAND have leapt to the defence of Andrew Porter after the Leinster tighthead was accused of illegal scrummaging by England head coach Eddie Jones. Ahead of this afternoon’s Autumn Nations Cup clash in London, Jones ramped up the mind games by claiming that Porter — who has deputised superbly for the injured Tadhg Furlong — scrummaged ‘in a fairly unusual way’. Porter and the Leinster pack were penalised seven times by referee Pascal Gauzere at the scrum in the province’s European Cup quarterfinal loss to Saracens in September. The Frenchman will officiate today’s game and Jones has tried to ramp up the pressure on Porter. But Ireland skills and kicking coach Richie Murphy brushed off the comments as prematch mind games before defending the 24-year-old, who is set to win his 30th cap. ‘I think Eddie Jones is just playing games in that situation,’ said Murphy following yesterday’s captain’s run in Twickenham. ‘He obviously thinks Porter is a very good player, which he is. No one has ever come to us and made any comments about Ports’ scrum technique. ‘So, we have no issues. We have had no feedback from World Rugby in relation to what he does. ‘It’s just one of those games. He seems to
like to throw a few little bombshells over the wall. We don’t focus on any of that. We know what we need to control, and what we can control. We’ll just move on with that.’ Andy Farrell has selected an exciting, if inexperienced, line-up for today’s meeting against a side who have won the last three games by an aggregate score of 113-47. Ross Byrne, James Lowe and Ronan Kelleher make their second starts while James Ryan will lead Ireland for the first time in the injuryenforced absence of Johnny Sexton. A major theme of the three previous encounters has been England’s physicality but also their in-your-face approach. And Murphy insists the only way for Ireland to turn down the English volume is to win the collisions and battles on the field. ‘I suppose, giving them the opportunity to be chirpy and whooping and hollering is where you have to stop it, making sure of that, that we don’t give them those opportunities, he added. ‘If we get those wins, we should be celebrating them, too. It’s a very unique situation obviously with if you’re in the stadium you can hear everything, I’m sure you’re getting quite a bit of it over the TV as well, it will be an interesting one. ‘It’s one that World Rugby are talking about in terms of how you celebrate, those
little wins and how you interact with the opposition team. Our focus will be very much on ourselves and we’ll be trying to enjoy those wins within our group and we won’t be focused on what England are doing. It’s one of those, it’s a tricky one, trying to not give them too much to celebrate would be the starting point. ‘Don’t give them things to hit, making sure that your setpiece is nailed on so that you can play off the back of it, hopefully we’ll be in a situation where we’re in the game.’ Meanwhile, England defence coach John Mitchell is braced for a massive backlash from Ireland this afternoon. The hosts have recalled Mako Vunipola, Kyle Sinckler, Tom Curry and Sam Underhill to the pack with Owen Farrell leading them at No10. ‘Ireland are a tenacious side and a side that never go away, so you have to fight to the end,’ said Mitchell. ‘You have to initiate it, you have to get in first. It doesn’t always fall your way and you have to win the big moments. ‘The past gives you some information, some of it is relevant, but not a lot of it. ‘What’s relevant now is that you have two different teams both wanting to win the Autumn Nations Cup. ‘It’s the most important game of the year so we want to walk towards whatever is coming and get the right performance. ‘We’re looking forward to whatever they chuck at us. We’re ready.’