AS IRISH RUGBY frantically kicks its legs to find solid ground following a four-month freefall, across the pond they seem to have found their feet again.
The management changes made by England after the Rugby World Cup scraped the dirt away and allowed a fresh slate to emerge, according to former England fly-half Paul Grayson, who is clearly much happier with Eddie Jones in charge than his predecessor Stuart Lancaster.
Under Lancaster, Grayson felt that England under-achieved, struggled for direction and lacked conviction and identity.
While the 2003 World Cup winner believes England are currently without a world-class player, he feels that they are heading in the right direction to bring back the glory days of yesteryear.
“Some of us were not massively confident about England’s prospects at the World Cup, for various reasons,” Grayson told The42.
“But not necessarily for lack of ability.
“The fact that it went so catastrophically wrong, moving on from that was made easier in a way.
“Once Stuart Lancaster moved on, we know how quickly sport can change and how people forget, with Eddie Jones coming in it’s helped us to almost write that off.”
Jones is two wins from two as England boss, albeit from trips to Scotland and Italy. And Grayson believes that the Australian’s boisterous, self-assured personality has clearly been rubbing off on his squad.
“Eddie Jones knows exactly what he wants. He’s come in with a real confidence and a bit of bullishness.
“He’s stirred up the hornet’s nest a little bit. Certainly his expectation was that England should go out and wallop Italy and he expected them to win in Scotland.
“And as a player you know that if the guy at the top knows what he’s doing, is knowledgeable and confident, it doesn’t take that long for it to trickle down to the team.
England haven’t played well yet. But obviously they’ve changed a lot of things under him.
“From the people that I have spoken to they now understand that the guy at the top is the guy to follow. And if they do that, they’re going to be successful.
“I don’t know if they’ll win the Six Nations but going forward they’re going in the right direction.”
Ireland
In their path this weekend is a debilitated and winless Irish side with a point to prove, and Grayson sees England as favourites purely on the basis of the number of absentees Ireland coach Joe Schmidt is having to juggle.
“Ireland are up against it by the sheer amount of injuries that they’ve got.
“You could count maybe 10 starting players that are on the injury list. And England, bar Manu Tuilagi and Jonny May, probably have pretty much everyone else to pick from.
“If it was the other way around, and Ireland were at full strength and England were missing so many starters, the scales would shift very dramatically.
“England will be tough to beat at home. Firstly, they’ve already improved and will continue to improve.”
Having said that, Grayson, who is England’s second highest points scorer of all time, behind the great Jonny Wilkinson, has concerns about England’s cohesion with ball in hand.
“I don’t think they’ve attacked with any degree of fluidity that’s needed to put a proper team, like Ireland, under pressure,” said Grayson, who was part of the successful British and Irish Lions squad who toured South Africa in 1997 only for injury to end his campaign early.
They were clunky against Scotland and Italy had the ball for most of the first half so I think England will shade it just on the fact that their players aren’t as battered and bruised as Ireland’s are.
The 44-year-old has been in the game long enough to know that expectations should never be allowed to get airborne.
He exudes realism and diplomacy as he analyses where England are at right now. One thing is certain though, he wasn’t a fan of the previous regime.
Identity
“You got the sense that England arrived at the World Cup after three and a half years with no real identity about how they were going to take it on,” Grayson explained.
“And let’s face it, since 2003, England’s achievements, bar getting to the World Cup final in 2007, have been poor to say the least.
“We’ve got no right to have big expectations other than the fact that we’re hugely resourced and we’ve got a lot of good players.
“Under a more experienced coach I don’t think it will take England that long to get back to a point where they are challenging the top four (in the world). And then they should be going into the Six Nations expecting to go toe to toe with Ireland and Wales to win it.”
The personnel have remained by and large the same, although there is a new captain in Dylan Hartley and a couple of new faces on the fringes, including powerful forward Maro Itoje who will make his first start against Ireland, so what has Jones really changed?
“Straight away England’s kick-chases were better organised in terms of getting numbers to the ball. If they don’t catch it they’re going to make the tackle.
“I think their line-speed is better already, too.
“You can see little changes. I’ve watched training sessions under Eddie Jones and they’ve been remarkably more intense than they were prior to the World Cup under Stuart Lancaster.
And that’s a bloke with Test-match experience versus a guy who doesn’t have any other than at age-group level.
“So for all those changes we talk about, you look at England’s fitness levels and the type of fitness he wants from them.
“I think they’re all good indicators of where they need to go. The fact that he came out and said they don’t have any world-class players speaks volumes.
“And I think that’s right. They’ve got some who have got potential but at the moment we don’t have anybody at that level on the world stage.
“But what we do have, is a bloody good team.”
Jones’s selection of George Ford and Owen Farrell at 10 and 12 has been of particular interest, and the creative options that allows for with two fly-halves in the backline.
While the partnership has flickered at times against average opposition, Grayson doesn’t see it continuing when Jones has Tuilagi back from injury, which could be as soon as England’s next Six Nations fixture, against Wales on 12 March.
“I don’t think it’s (Ford-Farrell partnership) a long-term option.
“I think once Manu Tuilagi is fully fit and available he will play at 12 for England. And George Ford and Owen Farrell will shoot it out to see who plays at fly-half.
“It gives England different options in terms of the width that they can play with, some of the runaround plays not dissimilar to Ireland to be fair. But I don’t see it as a long-term solution.”
Northampton
As well a successful career with England, which saw Grayson tally 32 caps, clock up 400 points, win a World Cup, a Five Nations and a Six Nations, he also spent 19 years at Northampton, as a player and coach.
He left the club in November 2012 by mutual consent following a spell as assistant coach.
Grayson is a legend at Franklin’s Gardens and is the club’s highest ever points scorer. He still lives in the town, keeps a close eye on the Aviva Premiership side and just last weekend, his twin boys made their debut for Northampton’s U14 side.
Munster fans probably remember Grayson better than most, as it was his three penalties that helped the Saints to a 9-8 2000 Heineken Cup final triumph against the southern province in Twickenham.
It was a day to forget, in horrific, windy conditions, for his counterpart Ronan O’Gara who missed four kicks from the tee. And Grayson’s outstanding captain that day? Current Connacht coach Pat Lam.
Of particular interest to Munster and Ireland fans these days is how Kerry fly-half JJ Hanrahan is faring in the English Premiership with Grayson’s former club.
Hanrahan’s club-mate, Wales winger George North, has made no secret of the fact that he has felt hindered by Northampton’s forward-orientated game-plan this season.
And that is something that Grayson feels has held Hanrahan back too, although he has been impressed by the former Munster man.
And he should know; he still works as a kicking coach these days as well as doing some punditry work with the BBC.
“I like him as a player. He’s got a real edge. He plays flat, carries the ball well. He’s a reliable goal kicker, too.
“But I think he’s probably been a bit restricted by the way Northampton have played this year. They’ve been very set-piece based. They hedge their bets, that’s the way they play.
“So for a player like JJ, to get the best out of him, he’d want them to be playing a lot quicker with a lot more ball in hand than they do.
“But I don’t know if it’s just a very shrewd move by Munster to send him over for a couple of years to let him get some experience and then bring home. But from what I’ve seen of him he’s a talented a lad.”
Paul Grayson is a rugby pundit and analyst with BBC Radio 5live and former England international. Contact Esportif.com for details.
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