Straining for the high notes

ENGLAND captain Steve Borthwick may not be the world’s greatest second-row forward but he does have a musical ear, even in the middle of a fiercely fought Six Nations clash. Last night, he claimed: “When the crowd sang Swing Low in the last 15 minutes of the game against Wales, it was the loudest and the sweetest I’ve ever heard.”

He interpreted the passion of the singing as a thank you for a job well done from the Twickenham fans and in turn, said Borthwick, “it gave us a big lift”.

One has to presume there’s a message there for Ireland as they prepared for this latest battle with the auld enemy. If Brian O’Driscoll and his team can instead give the many thousands of Irish fans in the stadium a good reason to lash out “The Fields” and at the same time shove the Chariot back down English throats, then we will know that the boys in green are on course to win the sixth of their last seven games against England.