Robinson faces ultimate test

WHILE France remain the bookies favourites to regain the championship they last won in 2004, Ireland’s sole Six Nations focus should be on beating England in Twickenham, thus securing the Triple Crown for only the eighth time in our long rugby history.

With the game in Cardiff kicking off two hours before the Twickenham clash, at least Ireland will have the added advantage of knowing exactly what is required to also win the tournament for the first time since 1985.

England’s fall from grace since winning the World Cup in 2003 has been remarkable. Of the five sides who have tasted World Cup glory since the inaugural event in 1987, England’s reign has been the least impressive. Even within the Six Nations championship, last Sunday’s defeat in Paris was their seventh in the 14 games they have played in the tournament since Martin Johnson lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in Sydney.

In the Stade de France, England were flat and devoid of inspiration. Both mentally and physically they looked shattered. Saturday’s game is now the biggest challenge of Andy Robinson’s coaching career. He must rebuild wounded confidence in a matter of days. The fact that he has made seven changes to his starting line-up will not make his task any easier.

It many respects, Robinson has become the victim of a domestic structure in the English Premiership where players are being asked to play too much rugby. While the entire Irish squad were relaxing at home in the weekend prior to the last round of six nations games, England’s front line players from Bath, Wasps and Leicester were battering lumps out of each other in the Powergen Cup semi-finals. Is it any wonder some looked brain dead at times last weekend.

While Munster may yet pay a heavy price for the large number of players they have lost to the national squad for recent Celtic league games, there is no doubt that Eddie O’Sullivan’s team have benefited from the rest periods imposed on the national squad players.

When Paul O’Connell passed a fitness test enabling him to line out against Scotland, O’Sullivan was in the enviable position of having his entire Six Nations squad available for selection. Indeed on a broader scale, only Frankie Sheahan and Alan Quinlan are long term injury victims. With O’Sullivan naming an unchanged side once again for Saturday, the odds are very much stacked in Ireland’s favour.

The one concern I have is that despite England’s declining fortunes, their record at Twickenham remains impressive. This season alone they beat both Samoa and Australia in the November series and created the most difficulties for Graham Henry’s All Blacks on their Grand Slam tour, losing by just three points.

Their most impressive performance in the championship to date was in their opening game against Wales when they smashed the reigning champions by 34 points, scoring six tries in the process. An unkind draw has dictated that their next three games were played away from home in Rome, Edinburgh and Paris. Their demise on the road has been rapid and in the successive losses to Scotland and France they have failed to score a try.

What is even more remarkable is that proven players such as Josh Lewsey, Ben Cohen and Danny Grewcock have looked decidedly ordinary. All season, Robinson has been derided in the English press for his insistence on selecting Jamie Noon and Mike Tindall as a centre combination. In the build-up to the French game, even Charlie Hodgson expressed his preference for a playmaker in midfield, a comment hardly conducive to improving morale. Robinson has now bitten the bullet and introduced Stuart Abbott.

EVEN up front England’s gigantic pack has failed to dominate for prolonged periods. Their scrum was under severe pressure last Sunday and even their lineout does not seen as assured as it has been in recent times. It is no surprise therefore that the over-hyped Andrew Sheridan has been reinstated at loose head with Matt Stephens switching sides.

In the second row Grewcock makes way for another Lion, Simon Shaw, with Robinson retaining faith in Steve Borthwick. This is strange, as Borthwick is not international standard. Indeed, the same can be said of Andy Goode at out-half.

All of this will add to the growing confidence within the Irish squad since the second half of the game against France. The other major plus is the fact that the majority of this squad has enjoyed two successive victories over England. In fact over half the team played in the win against a much stronger England side in Twickenham two years ago.

On that occasion the lineout expertise of Paul O’Connell, Malcolm O’Kelly and Simon Easterby laid the foundations for a famous victory. It was especially encouraging therefore to see this triumvirate wreak so much havoc once again against Scotland last weekend. Should they succeed in repeating the dose next Saturday, Ireland could well be on their way to another famous victory.

I am also sure Niall O’Donovan will have noted the success that both Scotland and France achieved against England with their driving maul. This has always been an area of strength for this Irish team, even if under-utilised recently. There is nothing better to encourage a visiting team than the sight of an English pack in reverse.

In this year’s championship, the reputation of Ireland’s three quarters has ensured that all opposition have employed a blitz defence in order to deprive the midfield of time and space. England employed a drift defence in Paris with little effect. If Ireland are given similar latitude they could do serious damage. However, knowing Phil Larder, I am sure they will make technical adjustments.

While Ireland have only managed seven Triple Crowns in 130 years of combat, history shows that they have been achieved almost in pairs. The first two came in 1894 and ’99. Subsequently the 1948 and ’49 victories were captained by the same man, Karl Mullen, a feat repeated by Ciaran Fitzgerald in 1982 and ’85. With Brian O’Driscoll at the helm when Ireland won the Triple Crown in 2004, this remarkable sequence could be repeated again.

Ireland have never had a better opportunity to create history. With a trophy on offer for the first time for a Triple Crown winner, this team has everything to play for. That they are good enough is beyond question. Now they must deliver.