Win will have knock-on effect

FROM an Irish perspective, there are a few more rewarding games to win than against England at Twickenham.

On average it happens once every ten years. Last Saturday’s victory was achieved against 11 of England’s starting World Cup final team. This qualifies it as Ireland’s greatest ever success at RFU headquarters and the tangible results will only be measured in the fullness of time.

England had not tasted defeat in the Five/Six nations championship on home soil since 1997. Understandably, this group of England players are immensely proud of that record. They just do not contemplate defeat at Twickenham. Over the last few seasons, the England management have done everything to turn it into a fortress. The home dressing room is adorned with the cross of St George and each player is assigned his own changing pew complete with name and national emblem. The latest addition, designed to undermine the confidence of the visiting team, is a series of plaques on the entrance to the visitor’s dressing room celebrating England’s greatest victories.

If anything these only galvanised Ireland last weekend.

While previous Irish teams have enjoyed spectacular wins on a one-off basis, this team is better placed than most to capitalise on the experience. In the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s victory, captain Brian O’Driscoll stated that there was a real self-belief in the squad in the build up to the game. They knew, if certain key objectives were achieved, they were capable of winning. And so it proved.

In times past, at key moments in big games, Irish teams have lacked the mental toughness required to put away the super powers of the world game. That is why Saturday’s victory could yet prove so valuable. Last summer, England achieved a famous victory over New Zealand on their summer tour. At one stage in that test they were reduced to 13 men due to the sin-binning of Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back. During that ten minute spell they held the New Zealand pack, with six forwards, at a five metre scrum and outscored the All Blacks by three points to nil. That, more than anything, convinced England they were capable of winning the World Cup. Mentally they were stronger as a result.

This victory could have a similar effect on this group of Irish players. When one considers Donncha O’Callaghan, Denis Hickie, Marcus Horan and Geordan Murphy will soon be available to bolster the squad, then there is potential for great times ahead. While victory in this year’s tournament is dependant on France losing one of their two remaining games, the opportunity of achieving Triple Crown success for the first time in 19 years is now very realistic.

Further down the track, Ireland head to South Africa next June for a two match test series. Ireland have not won an away test against one of the SANZAR nations since 1979. Now that too looks realistic.

One of my abiding memories of last Saturday’s encounter was the stunned silence of the England support in the stand as the contest progressed. They couldn’t believe what was unfolding before them. The sight of an Irish pack out muscling their English counterparts is a very rare occurrence in recent times.

While this Ireland forward unit has performed on a consistent basis for some time, on Saturday we saw glimpses of the capability behind the scrum. The sequence of events in the lead up to Girvan Dempsey’s try encapsulated that quality. It had everything. Geordan D’Arcy’s dancing feat exposed Will Greenwood’s defensive frailty. The subsequent interaction between backs and forwards left Anthony Foley only yards from the line. The quality of the skip passes from both O’Driscoll and D’Arcy set up a clear overlap. Where Ian Balshaw had earlier failed to release Ben Cohen, Tyrone Howe put Dempsey away. The only blemish was Cohen’s crude attempt at a tackle. Leading with his feet, he could have inflicted serious damage on Ireland’s try scorer. As it happened, the collision forced Dempsey to retire with a dead leg.

While much has rightly been made of the display by the Ireland pack, the work of the entire team in defence was incredible. This was epitomised by D’Arcy’s work rate in the lead up to his try saving tackle on Ben Cohen in the first minute of the second half. The reward for Ireland’s defensive display was that England were restricted to three points in the entire second half. When did that last happen in Twickenham? The other astonishing feature of this display was despite Ireland’s full-blooded commitment, they only conceded nine penalties throughout the match. As a result Paul Grayson had only two penalty kicks at goal in the entire game.

The feelgood factor from beating the world champions will last for some time. However, one hopes the psychological benefits emanating from such a performance will have even more significance in the future. Only time will tell.