IT DOESN’T GET any easier for Ireland.
After a draw against Wales and a defeat to France in Paris, Joe Schmidt’s men follow up the Six Nations’ first break weekend with a trip to Twickenham to take on Eddie Jones’ England this Saturday [KO 4.50pm].
The English, in contrast to Ireland, come into this fixture on the back of two wins under their new head coach. A solid 15-9 victory over Scotland was followed with a five-try win away to Italy that saw Jones’ side flourish in the final 30 minutes.
Stuart Lancaster has been swiftly forgotten, and it is with derision that his reign is most commonly recalled.
The ‘new’ England under Jones certainly do look a little different. Separating the reality from Jones’ words is important in all of this, given his apparent [and entertaining] penchant for exaggeration and distraction when speaking to the media.
Having analysed England’s two games in this Six Nations more deeply than anyone, Schmidt can see a clear shift in tactics from the Lancaster era.
Definitely a tactical change, there’s definitely different things that they’re doing in the last two games as opposed to the last four years, which is a little bit frustrating because we kind of knew the shapes and the way that they played over the last few years,” says Schmidt.
“And sometimes you couldn’t stop that anyway because they played very, very well and I think they tended to play a couple of diamond shapes and had a lot of variety of those two shapes and so it was very hard to defend those.
“But at the same time you knew what the options were off them, so as long as you were astute you could try to defend them as best as you can with one v one with big Billy [Vunipola] or one of their real athletic guys.”
Here Schmidt underlines the quality of Mike Brown, Jack Nowell, Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph, men who are dangerous no matter what shape their coach asks them to organise into.
One of the earliest hallmarks of Jones’ England is the use of George Ford and Owen Farrell, both of them out-halves, as a 10-12 playmaking combination.
“They shift the ball very well,” says Schmidt. “George Ford and Owen Farrell are two of the best passers in world rugby, so to transition from one point of attack to another point of attack is something they can do quite seamlessly.”
Ireland will be intent on shutting down the pre-existing and new threats they’ve analysed in England’s play, but their own attacking efforts will arguably be far more important after the disappointment in Paris last time out.
Cian Healy and Mike Ross both trained with Ireland last week before returning for Leinster duty at the weekend, and the propping pair seem likely to be involved at Twickenham, all the more so after Ireland’s scrum issues against Wales and France.
Schmidt indicated again that Healy and Ross were close to playing against the French, and underlined the threat posed by England’s “horsepower” in the scrum.
Johnny Sexton is expected to train today after rolling his ankle last week at an open training session in Mullingar. Jared Payne is a doubt with a hamstring strain, while Sean O’Brien, Dave Kearney and Mike McCarthy’s tournaments are over.
The creative Simon Zebo and Keith Earls look likely to be available again after they missed the French clash, as uncapped trio Stuart McCloskey, Josh van der Flier and Ultan Dillane hope for their maiden involvements.
Naturally enough, the available personnel will affect Ireland’s tactical plans, but Jones has been already been speaking about his expectation of an “Aussie Rules battle” against Schmidt’s side on Saturday.
The Australian claimed that Ireland “kick 60% of their possession,” just one example of his habit for exaggeration. Schmidt hasn’t been to keen to engage in mind games with opposition coaches in recent years, and this weekend’s fixture sees no change there.
“Look I was down in Melbourne a couple of times last year and I actually sat in the coaches’ box for Carlton versus Richmond – 24 tv screens in that coaches’ box – whatever they do do down there it is well beyond my ability to cope with that information overload,” says Schmidt when asked about Jones’ about Aussie Rules
“But seeing all the line coaches interact and seeing all that organised, I’ve no doubt I picked up a few tips on kicking.
But I think we’ve kicked less than a quarter of the possession we’ve had, which doesn’t correspondent with the statistics which have been reported.”
Whatever shape this contest takes, whatever side Schmidt does select, whether or not he opts to hand out a debut or two, and regardless of the tactical battle, Schmidt knows Ireland desperately need a win.
“It’s an exciting challenge, particularly on the back of us, you know, having a little bit of disappointment, particularly against France,” says Schmidt.
“Again, I think we’ve played in patches as well as anyone has but we’ve got nothing to show for it really. We need to desperately try and get something on the scoreboard.”
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