MORE THAN PRIDE ON THE LINE
Twickenham will test the merits of new regime but Bono-inspired Ireland have good reason to be confident
‘IRELAND ARE CAPABLE OF TAKING ANOTHER POSITIVE STEP FORWARD’
TALK of Bono paying a visit to Ireland camp brought back a memory from the turn of the century. The foot and mouth crisis of 2001 meant Clive Woodward’s all-star England squad did not arrive in Dublin until October of that year. Ireland were waiting in the long grass and subsequently derailed their Grand Slam bid with a 20-14 victory.
There followed the slightly bizarre post-match scenes where the England team stood on a podium with the Six Nations trophy looking utterly downcast while the hosts paraded around the old Lansdowne Road with U2’s anthem ‘Pride’ belting around the stadium.
There wasn’t a single Irish punter in the stands that day who cared about the absurdity of the whole thing, but it showed the gulf in standards between the two camps.
Irish rugby is long past the days of those one-off, moral victories.
Some things have remained the same, however. The English remain a prized scalp. And Irish teams have accumulated plenty of them since that ambush in the capital almost 20 years ago — winning 10 Six Nations encounters since.
There have been four victories at Twickenham for good measure.
This generation does not hold the old fear of that London venue, but last August’s events offered a grim reminder of what can go wrong when England get their tails up at home.
In one of the many perplexing decisions from Joe Schmidt during his final year in charge, the Kiwi decided to flog his squad at a weeklong warm weather training camp in the Algarve before flying straight to London to take on an England side that were beginning to hit their straps after back-to-back games against Wales. It later transpired that Schmidt’s squad had done little or no rugby training and arrived in Twickenham woefully underdone.
A 57-point drubbing ensued, a galling loss that compounded the 32-20 hammering they took in the Six Nations the previous February.
Today’s meeting should be a lot more competitive for many reasons. Eddie Jones’s squad have not looked like the world beaters of last year. The absence of the Vunipola brothers is a key factor well.
It was telling that neither was on duty during that first-round loss in
Paris and when Manu Tuilagi, who returns to the team today, left the fray with a calf injury early in the game, England suddenly looked a very pedestrian and blunt attacking outfit. Must of their recent success has been built around a power game. Take out some of the heavy hitters and they lose that point of difference. And this is a curious selection from Jones.
Never one to bow to public opinion, the wily Australian, who has been his usual mix of sparky and offbeat this week, has doubled down on his selection of Tom Curry at No8 to cover for Billy Vunipola.
Courtney Lawes, a second row by trade, is selected at blindside while Jonathan Joseph, on the day he is poised to win his 50th cap, is selected on the wing.
The Bath centre has not started a competitive game, at any level, in that position since 2013 but Jones has backed him to do a job here.
Despite all this tinkering, this still looks like a potent English selection. There are threats across the park. From the relentless workrate and physicality of Maro Itoje and Sam Underhill to Tuilagi’s explosive power in midfield, while Jonny May brings a crazy energy on the wing.
Ireland arrive with a quiet confidence and would like to think that they have turned the corner after the many lows of last year. But we’ve had a few false dawns in recent times as well.
Lest we forget, Ireland arrived in Japan with consecutive wins over the Welsh before pummelling the Scots in Yokohama. The whole operation was back on track apparently. Six days later, they were ambushed by the tournament hosts in Shizuoka as the same old failings resurfaced. The less said about what happened against the All Blacks the better.
This afternoon’s showing will tell us a lot about the state of this new regime. Home wins over Scotland and Wales has allowed this squad to build some momentum ahead of this daunting trip to Twickenham. Despite all of England’s recent issues, they remain a serious proposition and the mettle of Andy Farrell’s squad will be severely tested this afternoon.
However, if Ireland can weather a flurry of early English pressure — a trademark of the hosts in recent times — they can make this a real contest. The performances of JordanLarmour, Andrew Conway, Robbie Henshaw and CJ Stander have been standouts in recent rounds, but it is the personnel on the bench which could have a major influence today.
Iain Henderson’s late withdrawal could be seen as a blow but Devin Toner’s promotion could be a blessing in disguise against an English lineout that has looked vulnerable.