BERNARD JACKMAN: Were Ireland too wound up?
I think he was harsh on Wales but completely wrong on the current English players and coaches.
Since stepping in on originally an interim basis for Martin Johnson when no one else wanted the job, Stuart Lancaster has built a squad who go about their business in a quiet and efficient manner. They may be young and inexperienced but they came to the Aviva on Sunday with laser-like focus and left Dublin for the first time in 10 years with a valuable win. They are now favourites to win the Championship and I wouldn’t bet against them winning the Grand Slam as they have France at Twickenham where the French have a terrible record over the years.
While the first round of games were full of running rugby and daring attack, the defence coaches and video analysts earned their wages last week with round two seeing much more attritional and tactical play across the board. Try-scoring opportunities were at a premium; in fact, only two really presented themselves in the Irish match, both falling to English replacement Manu Tuilagi.
In elite sport, individuals and teams strive to get into what is called “flow state” — when you are in your optimum place for peak performance. In ‘Flow State’ the game seems to be played at a slower pace and you seem to have all the time in the world.
Players often look back on their best games and try and remember the routines and feelings they used and had in the days leading up to the event. That’s why you often see players having little rituals that they use to relax them and help they prepare.
An example is Donncha O’Callaghan always needing a brand new pair of white socks to wear under his match socks. Even if they don’t make any sense, they are important and worthwhile if they help the athlete perform.
The reason I mention this is that I felt that maybe some of the Irish players were over-emotional and anxious pre-game. For example, during the anthems Jamie Heaslip looked uptight and his errors in the first half were very uncharacteristic. Normally he is relaxed and switched off right up to kick-off.
Likewise Cian Healy is not a dirty player but his stamp on Dan Coles would have resulted in at least a card if seen live by the officials. He will most probably miss at least the next game having been cited yesterday.
I couldn’t have predicted that the Irish set-piece would hold its own overall and we would dominate England in the lineout maul and still lose. Ireland suffered injuries to Sexton and Zebo in the first half, but England dominated the collisions and their kicking game was very, very good. Brad Barrit may not be the next Jeremy Guscott or Brian O’Driscoll but he gives England a real enforcer in the outside backs and he had no respect for his own safety over the 80 minutes.
I felt that England, through Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell in particular, targeted Craig Gilroy’s weak kicking game and continuously manipulated the Irish backfield defence through smart phase play. They then kicked ball in behind Ireland and forced Rob Kearney onto his right foot more often than not. It’s not a very difficult strategy to devise but what is hard is to be consistent in the accuracy of the kicks and the kick chase. When Ireland tried to do the same, England playing with two full backs in Alex Goode and Mike Brown, never let them find grass and returned the ball with interest.
England were ready for our “choke’ tackle and their ball-carriers ran with much lower body positions than the Welsh in Cardiff. They had their support players much closer to the ball carrier and were very aggressive in the clean-out, negating the threat. In fact they turned it into a weakness and won some crucial penalties at the ruck.
In attack, Ireland weren’t able to consistently generate quick ball and the greasy conditions made it a liability to run from deep. Apart from one sublime pass from Brain O’Driscoll, Ireland were unable to create any space out wide. This is something that Declan Kidney will be very disappointed about given the way we attacked against Argentina and Wales.
England captain Chris Robshaw spoke afterwards of his team’s mindset before the game. Their Mantra was “NO BACKWARD STEP’ and to a man they followed that. He said they used vital experience of the intensity and atmosphere that is an Ireland-England game in Dublin to help them prepare. Graham Rowntree had been there before as a player and coach and Mike Catt and Andy Farrell played on losing English sides in Lansdowne Road. They knew how important the start was in quietening the crowd and putting doubt into the home side.
What was most impressive for me, however, was when they had James Haskell in the sin bin at 6-6. England stayed calm and ran the 10 minutes out without having to defend in their own 22. They certainly are a team on an upward curve.
Ireland, on the other hand, didn’t play and that will frustrate them. This Championship is far from over but we have put ourselves in a difficult position.
