Donal Lenihan: Ireland must not allow England dictate the terms of engagement
Wales' George North (left) and Ireland's Hugo Keenan in action during the Autumn Nations Cup match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.
As Wales discovered to their cost in Dublin last Friday, you won’t survive in Test rugby without a scrum platform to play off. Eddie Jones knows this better than most, having seen his England scrum dismantled by the Springboks in the World Cup final after first-choice tighthead prop Kyle Sinckler was injured early on.
Since then he has concentrated on building his front-row options off the bench. That is why he looked so pleased after England’s 40-0 drubbing of Georgia last weekend. The only facet of Georgia’s game rated as world-class in advance was their scrum.
Jones choose to tackle that assertion head on and demoralized the Georgians in the one area they pride themselves in. He will have taken huge satisfaction from the fact that this was achieved with Ellis Genge, his third choice loosehead, and back up tight head Will Stuart.
With first-choice props, Sinckler and Mako Vunipola, back from the off today, England will now look to undermine the massive scrum advantage Ireland enjoyed against Wales. No doubt Vunipola, hooker Jamie George and second-row Maro Itoje will have briefed the England front five on how Saracens went about pummeling Leinster in the Champions Cup quarter-final last September with today’s starters Cian Healy, Andrew Porter and James Ryan on duty.
Ireland are expecting this. The scrum was rock solid against France in Paris until the cavalry arrived off the bench. England also look stronger in this department with Genge and Stuart, so impressive against Georgia, ready to pounce in the final quarter. There will be a lot of pressure on Ed Byrne and Finlay Bealham to match that impact when introduced.
The added bonus of having a dominant scrum against Georgia was that it sucked the energy out of the visiting forwards. England then used that to best effect with their lineout maul. George became the first England hooker to score a hat-trick of tries off this approach last weekend and Jones will now task his forwards with pressurizing Ireland by kicking to the corners off penalties and stressing their lineout defence.
The Irish pack is acutely aware that they were bullied in all the recent defeats to England. They need to deliver the message early in this one that they are not prepared to allow that happen again. That starts with the scrum. An early penalty win here will be every bit as important psychologically as any points on the board.
Despite winning the Six Nations for the third time in five seasons, England are attracting a lot of negative comment about what is seen as their sterile approach. Jones couldn’t give a damn. He has set his stall on England dominating their opposition physically and using a very clever kicking game with twin pivots in George Ford and Owen Farrell in controlling territory.
Once in the opposition 22, he uses the pack to pummel the try line, or Farrell’s boot to rack up points from penalties conceded. In many respects it’s similar in approach that Joe Schmidt perfected with Ireland and which brought us so much success in 2018. Jones is content to wait until the game breaks up before employing what he calls a 'fast and flat attack.'
He encourages his wingers to pop up anywhere in broken play and be ready to exploit any turnovers. Complimenting this approach is a voracious back-row with two outstanding open sides in Tom Curry and Sam Underhill, both turnover machines at the breakdown.
With Itoje and George equally effective poachers, England look to use the pace in the back three of Jonny May, Elliot Daly and Jonathan Joseph to punish unstructured defences, caught cold off turnovers. Jones encourages his charges to bide their time and not be in any rush to win the match. He relies on the forwards to wear the opposition down, stress their defense with a multitude of massive ball carriers, led by Billy Vunipola, coming in waves. He is happy for England to strike in the second half when the physical toll sets in.
That is not to say they are lacking in strike plays or attacking intent. When they get that mix right, as they did in their most complete performance of the professional era, the incredible 19-7 dismantling of the All Black’s in the World Cup semi-final last year, they are very difficult to contain.
With 11 of that semi-final starting line up in their side today, including seven of the pack, Ireland must stress England at the gain line to stop them building momentum. Ireland must control the tempo of the game and dictate the areas on the field where the action takes place. Their discipline will also have to be spot on as Farrell will just launch England into the Irish 22 off cheap penalties.
If they get a foothold there, their power up front becomes very difficult to contain. Jones has kept George Ford in reserve today but will spring him off the bench once the game breaks up when both he and Farrell will attack 'fast and flat', creating opportunities out wide.
England copped a lot of flak for their very structured approach against Georgia last week which involved a lot of heavy hitting from the forwards and a lot of kicking for territory from Farrell. Jones knew that England would be just as successful employing a wide game against the back-peddling Georgian defence but insisted that his side maintain the tactical discipline that will be required to beat higher ranking sides.
In many respects, he sacrificed running up a cricket score in order to implement the plan he wants to use against Ireland today. That takes a lot of on field discipline from his generals. England have a clear template for how they want to play and are sticking to it, regardless of the opposition.
Jones appreciates that you can inflict as much damage on teams without the ball as you can with it.
England’s aggressive defence, which has developed into a very potent weapon since former New Zealand head coach John Mitchell came on board in 2018, is now very much part of the identity of the team.
Ireland found it very difficult to make any inroads against it in the Six Nations defeat last March and ended up kicking away possession cheaply. When Ireland got back into that contest in the final quarter, England had already signed off.
At half-back, Ross Byrne and Jamison Gibson-Park face a baptism of fire, starting together for the first time at this level, having to cope with the inevitable pressure that England’s back row will seek to put them under. Ireland’s pack carry a huge responsibility in delivering the quick ball that made Gibson-Park look so sharp against Wales.
He is unlikely to get that armchair ride again and how he and Byrne cope with that will be critical to the result.
The challenge for Ireland today is in not allowing England dictate the terms of engagement. We have seen before that England are very poor when it comes to chasing a game. When that control is wrestled from them, they often lack the assurance and tactical flexibility to change direction mid stream. It all comes down to not allowing England play within their comfort zone. If Ireland survive the physical assault they have a chance, otherwise we are back in familiar territory.
