At the Breakdown: England v Ireland
By Matthew Parke
Another round of this year’s Six Nations tournament has just wrapped up. England were blown away by a resurgent Ireland at Twickenham, Wales came heartbreakingly close to felling the Scottish, and France had their toughest game of the tournament yet against a spirited Italian team. We are over half-way through the competition now, and the final standings are starting to take shape. It is time to breakdown how each team performed this weekend and how they are shaping up going into the final two rounds.
England vs. Ireland
It would appear the rumours of Ireland’s demise were greatly exaggerated. After a rocky first two rounds that appeared to show Ireland on a downwards trajectory, the boys in green showed up to Twickenham and crushed an England still seemingly reeling from Murrayfield. If the Scottish took the wheels off the chariot, the Irish completely snapped it in two.
This was a make-or-break game for both teams’ campaigns, where big players needed to show up, and on the day Ireland stood head and shoulders above the old enemy in their own backyard, eventually resulting in a record breaking 42 to 21 point victory.
It was performance reminiscent of the Ireland that were the number 1 ranked side in the world just a few years ago. Ireland opted for a 5-3 split on the bench, showing that they were going to play their brand of rugby. As opposed to the 6-2 split which allows a team to preserve their forward power over the full 80 minutes, a 5-3 split places one more back player on the bench, which suits Ireland as a team whose backline deploy intricate set plays that require precision passing and to try and break opposition down. This decision proved decisive as James Lowe had to be subbed off due to injury in just the 18th minute. In his place stepped Tommy O’Brien who had a phenomenal game, rectifying his poor showing in Paris two weeks prior. He was excellent under the highball, carried the most metres in the Irish team with 60m, and even scored a try.
He, of course, wasn’t the only player who stepped up for Ireland today. His opposite wing Rob Baloucoune put in a tremendous shift with a try, assisting O’Brien’s try, 3 line-breaks, 3 turnovers won, and 11 tackles (4 of which were dominant, the most in the game). He has firmly grasped that no. 14 jersey. Fellow Ulsterman Stuart McCloskey has continued his blistering form at inside centre. The ‘Irish Fridge’ beat 5 defenders, the most of any player, as well as making 14 tackles. He smashed through the English line, brushing aside Ollie Lawrence in the process, eventually resulting in Baloucoune’s try, but his most memorable moment that is bound to be replayed every year this fixture comes round, was when the 6’4”, 112kg McCloskey chased down and tackled 5’10”, 86kg Marcus Smith, after Smith intercepted Jack Crowley’s pass. For further context, Smith is one of the most explosively quick players in the world, with a reported 10m sprint time of 1.78 seconds.
Speaking of Jack Crowley, he had a solid performance starting at 10 for the first time this Six Nations, with Sam Prendergast completely absent from the squad (a good call in my opinion to get him out of the spotlight). Staying on for the full 80, he looked mostly composed in possession and alongside Jameson Gibson-Park helped to guide the Irish attack forward. His contestable were solid, made plenty of wrap-around plays and overall maintained a strong Irish attacking structure along with the rest of the backline. He did miss 5 tackles, a criticism which is often aimed at his contemporary Prendergast, and did miss two kicks at goal out of seven, but overall had a very good performance and should be favoured as starting out-half until the time comes that Prendergast is ready.
As for his half-back partner, JGP take a bow. One of the most complete performances at 9. He was instrumental to Ireland’s attack, maintaining quick ball to get Ireland on the front foot against the English line. His box kicks were on point allowing the Irish wingers to contest. His quick tap and try set the tempo for how Ireland wanted to play; high-paced and energetic. He rightfully deserved his man of the match award amongst a host of brilliant Irish performances.
The forwards played a crucial role in JGP’s ability to keep the Irish attack at a high-tempo. The Irish performance was all down to work rate. They held out against the initial English attack, and eventually brought themselves into the game. The forward pack exemplified this work rate. Tadhg Beirne was, as usual, a menace in the lineout and at the breakdown, winning a crucial penalty on the Irish try-line just as England looked deadly. Caelan Doris was back to his best with more intent in his 11 carries and topped the tackle count with 20. Van der Flier justified his selection despite calls online for others to start. He made a massive line-break out of his own 22 to bring Ireland up to the half-way line. Joe McCarthy and Dan Sheehan whilst not back to their absolute peak both had much better performances than recently, and the forwards off the bench also had solid impact.
Ireland have shown the level they can play at, now it is a case of can they maintain it and build upon themselves. England were definitely not at their best today, and there are still question about the lack of youth in the side. Hopefully over the next games against Scotland and Wales we shall see some newer faces. Cormac Izuchukwu was stellar against Italy and was unlucky not to be involved in this week’s game. Edwin Edogbo only made a cameo appearance against Italy but still managed to get through a decent body of work with 9 tackles in just over 10 minutes, and other exciting players like Nathan Doak and Tom Stewart have yet to get their opportunity. Ireland have the blueprint, they have the heart and the drive, and in the admittedly unlikely chance that France slip up in two weeks time against Scotland, they are still within a shot of claiming the championship.
As for England, their championship run is over and may likely give other players opportunities after being humbled two weeks in a row. A lot of fans, including myself, has England as potential dark horses for this Six Nations after their impressive run of form and 11 game win streak going into the tournament, but the simple matter of fact is that their big players haven’t stepped up. Against Ireland, key players like George Ford and Maro Itoje making his 100th England cap, were uncharacteristically lacklustre. Aside from having some scrum success (more likely a symptom of Ireland’s poor scrum that will need addressing), England failed to physically impose upon Ireland as they would have liked. They looked sloppy and slow in defence, anonymous at the breakdown and compounding error upon error often meant England were their own worst enemy. They allowed Ireland to not only keep a high-pace in attack, but also make easy gain-line success each phase, without being contested at the ruck. England seemed to defend very wide, probably identifying Lowe and Baloucoune as danger men but this allowed Ireland to find soft shoulders and make easy line-breaks right down the middle of the park. In the moments England did have opportunities they often failed to capitalise on them. In total they made 14 handling errors and also coughed up two yellow cards in critical periods of the game. The only players who can hold their heads up high are Ollie Lawrence who looked sharp on his returning game, and Ben Earl put in a commendable shift with 20 carries, the most of any player. Yet when the team around them wasn’t performing, their efforts were ultimately ineffective at rallying any real fight out of the English.
With Italy and France still left to face, England could be in for a torrid time. Italy will be looking for another home nations scalp and have been steadily building their performances. Meanwhile, France look unstoppable and if England show up how they did against Ireland, they may suffer another record loss. Borthwick is now under pressure, and it would not surprise me if key figures like Ford, Stewart, perhaps even Genge or Itoje are dropped to try out something new. Marcus Smith looked lively off the bench, perhaps he may start at either fly-half or fullback. George Furbank is another option at 15 England could turn to, Fin Smith has been so far benched in favour of Ford, same for Alex Coles for Itoje. Maybe these faces can provide the England desperately need.
