Where England can be exposed

ENGLAND have always been a team that prides itself on doing the rugby basics well.

Their most successful teams have been based around the assurance offered by a stable lineout platform and a powerful scrum.

Under Martin Johnson, this was always going to be the start point and against all opposition to date, England have been masterful in securing primary possession.

The lineout was a source of worry to Johnson when, on the eve of the tournament, he lost his two primary ball winners — Tom Croft and Courtney Lawes. That England have still delivered the most consistent lineout in the championship is impressive in itself.

Croft made a successful, try scoring, return off the bench against Scotland last Sunday and is being held back again today. In his absence, Tom Palmer has blossomed in the role of primary ball winner but faces a stern examination against Paul O’Connell, who has found his bearings once again at Test level.

Ireland’s lineout was back to its best in Cardiff with an unblemished return from 15 deliveries, with Rory Best varying his throws well. This enabled Ireland to launch a very successful maul on a number of occasions, crucially in the build up to Brian O’Driscoll’s try. O’Connell must continue to trust his maul today and use it to set England’s midfield on the back foot.

The Irish scrum had improved immeasurably over the course of the championship with Mike Ross offering stability at tight head.

Despite the loss of their gigantic loose head Andrew Sheridan, England’s scrum has been rock solid and had no difficulty coping with either France or Italy, despite being forced to introduce the inexperienced 23-year-old Alex Corbisiero as Sheridan’s replacement. With a front row with an average age of just 24 years of age, Cian Healy will no longer feel the baby of the scrum.

To undermine England, you have to attack them at source. Their front five is lacking in experience and Ireland must seek to exploit that and sow a seed of doubt in their minds. If their young half backs see their pack on the retreat, that will impact greatly on their attacking threat.

BEN YOUNGS and Toby Flood provide the engine for this English side. As a partnership they have blossomed with Leicester Tigers and are now growing more comfortable by the day at international level.

Youngs offers the full package at scrum-half. He is strong, provides an excellent service, has the pace to keep the opposing back row honest and also has a very good kicking game.

That is why Ireland must pressurise the set piece in order to buy an extra second against him. If only Sean O’Brien could get his hands on him early on and drive him backwards.

Flood had 35 caps coming into this tournament, the majority of which were won in the centre, so he is still a work in progress at out-half at this level.

However, the problem for opposing defences is that he plays flat on the gain line and offers a threat. When in trouble he can offload to any one of the two steam-rollers that man the midfield for England.

With acting captain Mike Tindall out, England have introduced a man mountain in Matt Banahan at outside centre. It is the equivalent of Ireland playing Paul O’Connell in Brian O’Driscoll’s jersey — except Banahan possesses a winger’s pace. The flip side is that he has nothing like the feet or hands of O’Driscoll or Gordon D’Arcy and very little football.

The more pressure that can be forced on Flood — remember he took a heavy knock only six days ago which forced him off against Scotland — the better as it will have a knock on effect on England’s inexperienced midfield.

Ireland’s chopping and changing at out-half has done little for Ronan O’Gara or Jonny Sexton, although O’Gara is more accustomed to dealing with that kind of thing. Declan Kidney has reintroduced Sexton for this game with a view to repairing the damage to his confidence with the World Cup in mind.

Sexton is a smashing young player and today will tell us a lot about his mental capacity. He has shown on numerous occasions in the past that he has the temperament to cope but this is a big test.

If both he and Eoin Reddan can subdue and nullify the threat posed by their opposite numbers, Ireland will be well on the road to victory.

TODAY, the two best organised defensive systems in the tournament come face to face. Something has to give. Both teams have conceded a paltry three tries in the competition to date. Ireland could even claim the statistics should only read two — but we won’t go there.

The defence coaches on both sides are ex-rugby league players Les Kiss and Mike Ford. The latter has an added advantage in that he was Ireland’s defence coach for a period under Eddie O’Sullivan.

Ireland’s defensive structure was magnificent in Cardiff and if they can apply the same pressure on England it will be interesting to see how they react. There were clear signs against Scotland last Sunday that given the enormity of what they might achieve, England were experiencing a bit of stage fright. They just wanted to get that game out of the way and arrive in Dublin unbeaten. The question now is how they will cope with the levels of expectation today.

Ireland must devise a strategy for coping with the mazy runs of Mark Cueto, Ben Foden and especially Chris Ashton. He undoubtedly poses the biggest threat, possessing this uncanny ability to appear from nowhere and offer himself for off-loads. He rarely confines himself to the tram lines and therefore is difficult to track. Ireland’s communication in defence will have to be at its best. Also the fringe defence around ruck and maul will have to be water tight to contain the probing runs of Youngs.

Ireland possess far more creativity in the centre and despite being club mates at Bath, Banahan and Shontayne Hape will find that defending the midfield channel at international level is massive step up from the Premiership. Ireland must exploit their inexperience.

The key to that is to withdraw Sean O’Brien and/or David Wallace and use them as auxiliary runners in midfield at various times. If they can get O’Driscoll, D’Arcy and Tommy Bowe running off their shoulders then they’ll find holes in the English defence.

Ireland’s kicking will have to improve on what we saw at the Millennium Stadium and offer the chasers a target to hit; otherwise the English back three will create mayhem. If Ireland could only rediscover the off-loading game they showed to such good effect against New Zealand last November, a confidence-boosting win would definitely be on the cards. Victory is very much in their own hands.