TWICKENHAM IS A hard old place to go and win a game of rugby at the best of times. For an Ireland team still struggling to find their best form, it presents a serious challenge, even if England might not be quite the force they were threatening to be heading into this Six Nations.
Last weekend’s loss in Murrayfield brought England’s 12-game winning run to a shuddering halt. At a time when England supporters wanted Steve Borthwick’s men to underline their credentials as a serious force again – one who could potentially win a Grand Slam this year – instead they were ripped apart by a Scotland side who a week previously, put in a miserable performance in a rain-soaked loss away to Italy.
From an Irish perspective, the fear is that such a comprehensive defeat sparks a reaction from England. Another way of looking it at is that this England side are perhaps more vulnerable than previously suspected.
In seeking that reaction, Borthwick has tried to add energy in his team. With a year-long apprenticeship completed, Henry Pollock is promoted from the bench to make his first Test start. He joins a reshaped back row where Ben Earl shifts to openside and Tom Curry enters at blindside. In the backline, Tommy Freeman moves back to the wing as Ollie Lawrence takes over at outside centre.
Ireland, too, have tried to add fresh energy, and one suspects this might have been the plan when Andy Farrell picked his team to face Italy last weekend. On that occasion, James Lowe responded to being dropped for the opener in France by delivering his best performance of the season. Farrell will hope Josh van der Flier has a similar response having watched the Italy game from the stands.
Tadhg Beirne, Tadhg Furlong and Jamison Gibson-Park all started that game on the bench, but the experienced trio are restored to the starting team for the Twickenham trip.
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It’s a safe to say the selection decision at 10 was not part of any Farrell masterplan. Even if Jack Crowley has earned his place as a form call, that Sam Prendergast drops out of the 23 shows how unstable the out-half situation remains. Farrell’s first choice out-half going into this championship won’t even travel to London with the squad, afforded a weekend off after a challenging couple of weekends in the 10 shirt.
Prendergast may well come back stronger later in the championship, but the conversation with Farrell this week must have been hard to digest. Farrell gave some insight into that chat after naming his team yesterday.
“Just where he’s at on his journey and what it is that we need to chase down to make sure that we keep using all these experiences to push the career on,” he said.
“You look at every walk of life or anyone who’s successful, in business or sport, and there’s always learnings there to be addressed and I suppose the most important thing as far as that’s concerned is honesty. To make sure that we’re able to address the right parts of the game and the conversations that I’ve had with Sam this week gives me confidence that that is going to happen.”
Out-half isn’t the only position where selection has been more open than usual. Tommy O’Brien started on the wing in Paris, was not included against Italy, and while he returns on the bench tomorrow, he has a job on his hands to dislodge Robert Baloucoune.
Beirne is back in the back row, a week after Cormac Izuchukwu impressed at six. With Ireland ditching the 6/2 bench split favoured against France and Italy for a 5/3, Izuchukwu and Edwin Edogbo are unlucky to miss out. It would be a surprise if the pair didn’t feature again in the remaining games against Wales and Scotland.
Van der Flier must have been looking over his shoulder as Nick Timoney made big impacts off the bench, while Garry Ringrose’s position might have come under more threat if it wasn’t for the long list of injuries across the backline.
Yet there’s little room for error in Twickenham, which has led to Farrell leaning back toward his more trusted and experienced senior men.
Many of those players have not been performing to their usual high standards, but the Ireland boss believes the group can come together to deliver a timely statement performance.
“You’ve heard me talk plenty of times about we’ve trained well, prepared well and all of that. You would expect that from an Irish team because that’s how diligent they are. That’s the type of lads that we’ve got,” he said.
Farrell speaking to the media in Dublin yesterday. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“We’ve got good people who care about preparation and all of that but you’ve still got to go out there and deliver. We want to be a team that goes to places like this and fires a few shots. There’s no doubt about that. We have to put a stamp on the game as well.”
Most will see Ireland as underdogs against a hurting England team. That’s a feeling that has served Irish sides well in the past.
“I don’t want that to be the case at all but I suppose human nature tells you that that works for some people. But we want to be as good as we possibly can and we want to be able to deal with being favourites or not really. I suppose what I’m saying is that should be irrelevant if we’re in the right frame of mind.”
Being in the right frame of mind is only part of the equation. Ireland know a fast start would be extremely helpful in front of an expectant Twickenham crowd. The scrum certainly needs to improve on last weekend’s worrying showing, while Ireland’s accuracy and execution in attack is still not as consistent as it was during this team’s best periods under Farrell.
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The Ireland boss explained where he most wants to see improvements this weekend.
“You would always expect me to say across the board but the obvious one is if you are just trying to get parity in the up-front battle then you’re not ambitious enough yourself.
“We want to make sure that our set-piece and the way that we go forward in general as far as the gainline is concerned, both sides of the ball is pretty important against an English side who are very good at that.
“The English thrive on the high ball situation and the lack of discipline from the opposition to kick you into the 22 and put you under pressure, so we need to make sure that our discipline and our collective plan as far as the overall game, as far as the kicking game is concerned, is pretty important.”
There’s still plenty of questions around an Ireland side who were way off the pace in France, before an improved – if still inconsistent – showing against Italy. England are out to prevent last week’s issues growing into something longer-term.
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Farrell: How Prendergast can 'push career on', and keys for Ireland success in Twickenham
TWICKENHAM IS A hard old place to go and win a game of rugby at the best of times. For an Ireland team still struggling to find their best form, it presents a serious challenge, even if England might not be quite the force they were threatening to be heading into this Six Nations.
Last weekend’s loss in Murrayfield brought England’s 12-game winning run to a shuddering halt. At a time when England supporters wanted Steve Borthwick’s men to underline their credentials as a serious force again – one who could potentially win a Grand Slam this year – instead they were ripped apart by a Scotland side who a week previously, put in a miserable performance in a rain-soaked loss away to Italy.
From an Irish perspective, the fear is that such a comprehensive defeat sparks a reaction from England. Another way of looking it at is that this England side are perhaps more vulnerable than previously suspected.
In seeking that reaction, Borthwick has tried to add energy in his team. With a year-long apprenticeship completed, Henry Pollock is promoted from the bench to make his first Test start. He joins a reshaped back row where Ben Earl shifts to openside and Tom Curry enters at blindside. In the backline, Tommy Freeman moves back to the wing as Ollie Lawrence takes over at outside centre.
Ireland, too, have tried to add fresh energy, and one suspects this might have been the plan when Andy Farrell picked his team to face Italy last weekend. On that occasion, James Lowe responded to being dropped for the opener in France by delivering his best performance of the season. Farrell will hope Josh van der Flier has a similar response having watched the Italy game from the stands.
Tadhg Beirne, Tadhg Furlong and Jamison Gibson-Park all started that game on the bench, but the experienced trio are restored to the starting team for the Twickenham trip.
It’s a safe to say the selection decision at 10 was not part of any Farrell masterplan. Even if Jack Crowley has earned his place as a form call, that Sam Prendergast drops out of the 23 shows how unstable the out-half situation remains. Farrell’s first choice out-half going into this championship won’t even travel to London with the squad, afforded a weekend off after a challenging couple of weekends in the 10 shirt.
Prendergast may well come back stronger later in the championship, but the conversation with Farrell this week must have been hard to digest. Farrell gave some insight into that chat after naming his team yesterday.
“Just where he’s at on his journey and what it is that we need to chase down to make sure that we keep using all these experiences to push the career on,” he said.
“You look at every walk of life or anyone who’s successful, in business or sport, and there’s always learnings there to be addressed and I suppose the most important thing as far as that’s concerned is honesty. To make sure that we’re able to address the right parts of the game and the conversations that I’ve had with Sam this week gives me confidence that that is going to happen.”
Out-half isn’t the only position where selection has been more open than usual. Tommy O’Brien started on the wing in Paris, was not included against Italy, and while he returns on the bench tomorrow, he has a job on his hands to dislodge Robert Baloucoune.
Beirne is back in the back row, a week after Cormac Izuchukwu impressed at six. With Ireland ditching the 6/2 bench split favoured against France and Italy for a 5/3, Izuchukwu and Edwin Edogbo are unlucky to miss out. It would be a surprise if the pair didn’t feature again in the remaining games against Wales and Scotland.
Van der Flier must have been looking over his shoulder as Nick Timoney made big impacts off the bench, while Garry Ringrose’s position might have come under more threat if it wasn’t for the long list of injuries across the backline.
Yet there’s little room for error in Twickenham, which has led to Farrell leaning back toward his more trusted and experienced senior men.
Many of those players have not been performing to their usual high standards, but the Ireland boss believes the group can come together to deliver a timely statement performance.
“You’ve heard me talk plenty of times about we’ve trained well, prepared well and all of that. You would expect that from an Irish team because that’s how diligent they are. That’s the type of lads that we’ve got,” he said.
“We’ve got good people who care about preparation and all of that but you’ve still got to go out there and deliver. We want to be a team that goes to places like this and fires a few shots. There’s no doubt about that. We have to put a stamp on the game as well.”
Most will see Ireland as underdogs against a hurting England team. That’s a feeling that has served Irish sides well in the past.
“I don’t want that to be the case at all but I suppose human nature tells you that that works for some people. But we want to be as good as we possibly can and we want to be able to deal with being favourites or not really. I suppose what I’m saying is that should be irrelevant if we’re in the right frame of mind.”
Being in the right frame of mind is only part of the equation. Ireland know a fast start would be extremely helpful in front of an expectant Twickenham crowd. The scrum certainly needs to improve on last weekend’s worrying showing, while Ireland’s accuracy and execution in attack is still not as consistent as it was during this team’s best periods under Farrell.
The Ireland boss explained where he most wants to see improvements this weekend.
“You would always expect me to say across the board but the obvious one is if you are just trying to get parity in the up-front battle then you’re not ambitious enough yourself.
“We want to make sure that our set-piece and the way that we go forward in general as far as the gainline is concerned, both sides of the ball is pretty important against an English side who are very good at that.
“The English thrive on the high ball situation and the lack of discipline from the opposition to kick you into the 22 and put you under pressure, so we need to make sure that our discipline and our collective plan as far as the overall game, as far as the kicking game is concerned, is pretty important.”
There’s still plenty of questions around an Ireland side who were way off the pace in France, before an improved – if still inconsistent – showing against Italy. England are out to prevent last week’s issues growing into something longer-term.
A fascinating day in Twickenham awaits.
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andy farrell Changes Ireland Rugby Six Nations 2026