Irish pack mentality shaped by success and failure at Twickenham

Peter O’Mahony

It will be 10 years next week since Declan Kidney was forced to concede that the demolition of his Ireland front row by the English at Twickenham had been “extremely painful” to watch.

For those of a squeamish disposition, the bare facts should suffice to tell the tale as Ireland fell to a 30-9 defeat after England took full advantage of a 20th-minute neck injury to visiting tighthead prop Mike Ross. Those were still the days of seven-man replacement benches, with only one prop covering both corners of the front row and it was the unfortunate Tom Court, a loosehead, who was sent on to join Cian Healy and Rory Best and battle gamely in the face of a white-jerseyed tidal wave of scrum power provided by Alex Corbisiero, Dylan Hartley and Dan Cole and marshalled by then-England forwards coach Graham Rowntree.