Doris aiming to counter England's 'collision dominance' this time around

The Leinster man will lead Ireland out for a Six Nations opener in Dublin on Saturday. 

FOCUSED: Ireland captain Caelan Doris speaking during a press conference after an Ireland rugby captain's run at the Aviva Stadium on Friday. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Caelan Doris and Ireland will be looking for an answer this weekend to the “collision dominance” that earned England a famous and surprise victory when the two teams met in the Six Nations at Twickenham last year.

Ireland went into that game as the hottest of favourites and on course for a second straight Grand Slam but they lost out by the narrowest of margins with Marcus Smith’s late drop goal the last key play on the day.

“They are always very abrasive, confrontational, strong setpiece, very good lineout and maul and they maul more than most teams,” said Doris at Ireland’s captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium on Friday. “Scrum-wise the same.

“Last year over there it was probably their collision dominance and eking out a few yards post-contact. Ben Earl was at the top of his game on that day and has been for the last couple of years. As are the two Currys. So from the back row point of view it is going to be a fun one.” The selections of Tom and Ben Curry and Ben Earl in that England back row has all but laid down the gauntlet to an Ireland team that was targeted in the breakdown area they usually dominated when New Zealand did a job on them there in November.

Ultimately, that Kiwi game was a one-off. The England defeat was of greater consequence given it cost them that Grand Slam and Doris admitted that the wounds from that loss 11 months have taken a long time to heal.

“Yeah, massively. It's always the ultimate test coming up against these guys. There's a rich history and a massive rivalry there over the last number of years. We'd had a pretty good run [last year], fourth round going in over there and there was a lot of belief. We also respected them massively and knew that there was a big performance brewing from them.

“They obviously hadn't gone so well at that point but you look back six months prior to that and they're in a World Cup final (sic). It's similar now in that they've been on the wrong side of some of their results in the autumn but we have massive respect for them as a team and the quality in their squad. It's going to be a big battle for us again tomorrow.” Ireland still won the title last time around and that leaves them chasing a three-in-a-row this next seven weeks. No side has done that in the history of the Six Nations. Doing it would be a monumental achievement.

Doris has been up front about the improvement Ireland will need to show this spring. They followed the New Zealand loss with three wins in November but there were plenty of areas that will need to be better for history to be made.

“The obvious ones from Autumn are discipline. We had pretty high penalty counts throughout our games, certainly much higher than the 2023 and 2024 Six Nations. Our lineout has traditionally been a strong point for us.

“It probably wasn't quite at the percentages we'd expect so it's trying to get that back up there as well. Lineout ‘D’ as well. And then some of our attack and breakdown stuff as well, so I've mentioned basically the whole game there.

"But there is that feeling that there is growth across the board from individuals, from us as a collective across the board, and that's the exciting thing for us.”