Borthwick credits 'incredible job' Felix Jones put together to restrict Ireland's gameplan

England played a brutal brand of rugby that pressured Ireland into uncharacteristic mistakes and disrupted their gameplan.

JONE'S MASTERPLAN: England Head Coach Steve Borthwick creidts Felix Jones for his masterplan which restricted the way Ireland play. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

England may continue to insist Ireland are the best in the world but their own stock had never fallen in the eyes of the Irish camp, despite the deluge of criticism Steve Borthwick’s side had received in the build-up to this Guinness Six Nations clash.

Both Borthwick and opposite number Andy Farrell played down the apparently heated conversation between the head coaches and former Saracens and England team-mates as they walked down the Twickenham tunnel at half-time yet there was nothing but mutual admiration after the game.

England’s last-kick 23-22 victory has certainly shifted the narrative for a side and management that had been rounded on following their Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh a fortnight earlier and Borthwick praised the effort of new defence coach Felix Jones, the former Munster and Ireland full-back, for putting together the masterplan that restricted Farrell’s men to four first-half penalties from Jack Crowley and two second-half James Lowe tries, denying the championship favourites a try bonus point for the first time in this season’s Six Nations.

The win, England’s third, also gives them hope of toppling Ireland on the last day. Trailing the Irish by four points in the standings, they will take on France in Lyon in the final game of this weekend’s final-round fixtures on Super Saturday knowing whether Scotland have done them a favour in Dublin in the prior match. And if they can repeat the levels they reached last Saturday, Ireland will not want to take any chances on home soil in their bid for back-to-back titles.

“That's fundamental, the defence and the effort,” Borthwick said of his team’s performance in victory. “Their attack is the best in the world against a defensive system for us that's only four games old. That's not a lot of training sessions. Felix has done an incredible job and that was central to.. and we'll have to be better next week.

“France pose a different challenge - a bigger, physical challenge next week and then secondly, I spoke about James Lowe's kicking game. You saw the first try (scored by Ollie Lawrence as England countered from a Lowe kick) and the opportunity for that try came from putting pressure on that kick and ultimately... Ireland are a phenomenal team.

“The shape and system they have is phenomenal. And if you allow it to go, they'll win. That's why they win as many games as they do so you have to try and disrupt that in some way shape or form. For periods we were able to, and for periods we weren't able to.” England rookie Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was making his first Test start and it was the right wing’s break that led to Marcus Smith’s 80th-minute game-winning drop goal. Yet he was also impressed by Ireland’s cohesion.

“They played with a class, savviness, tight connected structure,” Feyi-Waboso said, “it seemed like everyone was on the same page when you are playing Ireland, definitely punish your mistakes when you make them. Clinical, I’d say, yeah, Ireland are a great team.” From Ireland’s point of view, England’s return to form was no surprise.

“Look at the quality of the players that they've got,” Farrell said. “Certainly when you're coming off the back of a defeat it tends to concentrate the mind a little bit – hopefully it does for us next week.

“We always prepare for every game for everyone to be at their best. I thought they were super tonight, I thought they were physical, they were challenging on the gain line and played a nice brand of rugby as well.” 

It was also a brutal brand of rugby that pressured Ireland into uncharacteristic mistakes and disrupted their gameplan despite Irish captain Peter O’Mahony knowing what was coming.

“Yeah, we were playing against a quality side,” O’Mahony said. “I thought our set-piece was good. They have a good scrum - a good set-piece: good lineout defence, good lineout attack. I thought we got on okay set-piece wise.

“They came hard at the breakdown. We spoke about it beforehand but they were good and disrupted us. They were clinical the way they did it. It was a savage battle out there.”