TIME FOR THIS (UNLOVED) EMPIRE TO STRIKE BACK!

Haskell: Other teams hate England but we don’t care.. it’s history

JAMES HASKELL says history is to blame for England being disliked – but warned that the once ‘empire’ nation is in the mood to strike back.

It is no coincidence that Scotland and France saved their best performances for England. For both, it is a rivalry like no other.

Ireland hold a similar view and the champions come to Twickenham today in little doubt that a Grand Slam triumph won in England would rank above all else.

And that was before footage emerged to fire them up further of Eddie Jones labelling them “scummy” and insisting his team would avenge their loss last year in Dublin.

“That’s what happens when you used to run the world, isn’t it?” said Haskell of the widely-held sporting enmity towards his country of birth.

“It’s down to empire building and it’s an easy motivation factor for other sides because of the long, entrenched history.

“It’s very difficult for us to say that because, if you know your history, we are partly to blame.

“But it got done a long, long time ago. I was nothing to do with it. I never once got in my boat and said, ‘Right, you’re part of Great Britain’. I can’t be held responsible for it. I don’t hate anyone.”

This is the cross that generations of England teams have had to bear and it is telling that the biggest and richest rugby nation has won this championship outright only 28 times in 135 years.

While opponents seem able to draw great strength from history, those playing for England have to dig elsewhere for emotional fuel.

“When we play any country people always ask about the passion,” Haskell added.

“If it’s the Scots it’s ‘the passion, the Auld Enemy’ – all that.

“We literally don’t care. For us it’s about trying to deliver a performance.

“Playing for England you want to stay involved, you want to win at all costs and you want to put a performance in. Those are motivating factors enough.”

Whether that, mixed with a desperation to avoid a hat-trick of defeats, is indeed enough today to repel an unbeaten team in search of Ireland’s third-ever Slam remains to be seen.

Jones has dropped half the England side battered by France, adding greater control at half-back, power to his pack and a better all-round balance.

The bookies have it too close to call. Form favours Ireland, the history of the fixture at Twickenham points to the home side.

Either way, the Irish get to pick up a trophy. For England, it’s win or bust.

Could it be that for once they are able to draw on the greater motivation?

I DON’T like Eddie’s loose talk, but I DO like his team

FOR years the message in the England camp has been the same: don’t give the opposition any ammunition.

Coaches and players have come and gone adhering to the same credo that loose talk can cost matches, especially in the home nations.

Don’t give an inch, we were told, be it a column inch or anywhere else. Don’t give them any motivation. Make them create their own.

So to see the footage of England’s head coach insulting Wales and today’s opponents Ireland came as a shock. Personally, I was disappointed and, as an Englishman, slightly embarrassed.

Those Ireland players will be bouncing in the changing room, having to peel themselves off the ceiling because they’re so excited about the chance to win a Grand Slam. Now someone can throw in: “And, by the way, their coach doesn’t respect us”. It gives them an extra half or one per cent. A tough task just got tougher, but hope is not lost as I like the team Eddie has picked, certainly the back line and front five.

I like Richard Wigglesworth (right) and Owen Farrell at half-back to steady the ship and direct the team. I think that will prove effective.

I like that he has picked big, powerful ball carriers in the pack, as long as they truck it up in the right areas. I like the prospect of England at last getting momentum – and the liberating impact that could have on Anthony Watson (right), Elliot Daly and Jonny May. After two defeats in which we have barely seen England’s strike runners, the threat should be back – even against an unbeaten and very decent Ireland side.

It’s about playing in the right areas. When England lose to Ireland it tends to be because we fall foul of Ireland’s kicking game and territory, and the way they squeeze the life out of you.

England need to do that to Ireland. I don’t want to see them going for long-range kicks, I want to see them punching the ball deep into Irish territory and saying, ‘Go on then, what you going to do from there?”

In short, the half-backs have to get it spot on if Eddie is not to have his words stuffed back down his throat.