AS EVER AFTER defeat, Joe Schmidt’s Ireland have seen their attacking strategy take a kicking since the unsuccessful visit to Paris two weekends ago.
Indeed, England boss Eddie Jones has led that particular charge with his assertion that Ireland kick 60% of their possession, to which Joe Schmidt has responded with the more accurate figure of less than 25%.
This debate has been a live one throughout the majority of Schmidt’s tenure as Ireland coach, and it is raging once again after their attack failed to produce a try in Paris.
Schmidt’s players, however, are staying calm and remain confident in the plans their head coach is putting in place to break down the English in Twickenham this weekend.
Our attack is in a good place,” says scrum-half Conor Murray. “We have full faith in the game plan and will keep working hard.
“Without making excuses, the weather was poor against France. Against Wales, the game was open and we made seven line breaks; I think we made maybe one against France. We played well [against Wales], countered and it was a great team performance.
“In France it was a slower game, conditions kind of dictated that. At the same time we hold ourselves to higher standards and we should have been able to take those chances. It’s a big focus for us this week.”
While Ireland struggled for busts of the opposition last time out, England ran in five tries. The opposition for Jones’ men, in the shape of Italy, was arguably weaker than what Ireland faced in Paris, but there were signs of growth from the English.
“They have played quite well,” says Murray of England. “With Eddie Jones in charge they seem to be a confident group. They are getting a bit of momentum up and they will be fully confident that they can go out and get a victory against us.
There are a lot of the same players that we played against last year that we can study again. They are a playing with a lot of freedom and look quite threatening.”
Murray believes that Jones’ selection of Owen Farrell as a playmaking 12 outside out-half George Ford is one of the key reasons for that threat, and stresses that the Saracens man cannot be underrated as a distributor.
“I saw him up close and personal in 2013 [on the Lions tour] and got to know him,” says Murray of Farrell. “His passing game is something that really struck me. He has a really wide, flat pass and can really get a backline going.
“With Ford inside him, another really dangerous playmaker, it just means you have to study them a little bit more, whereas if they had Manu Tuilagi at number 12 then you’d be expecting something different from them.”
Though Ireland’s title chances are realistically gone after they failed to win either of their two opening games, Murray says the players’ attitudes will not change.
Schmidt has indicated that the pressure has somewhat lifted and may mean opportunities for younger players in the remaining three fixtures. It is an oddity to hear the Kiwi speak of anything other than the next game, a mantra Murray is very much staying in tune with.
“If you start thinking about the Championship, about Italy and Scotland… you’ve this huge England game in front of you that if you do take your eye off the ball… if you go over to England and you’re not prepared they could really give you a hammering.”
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