Good afternoon and welcome to today’s liveblog on Ireland versus England in the Autumn Nations Cup. Ireland arrive into this game on the back of three successive defeats to England as well as the provocative words of Eddie Jones ringing in their ears.
After stating that England could have ‘declared at half-time if it was a cricket match’ during the Six Nations encounter between these sides back in February, Jones has since dubbed Ireland ‘the United Nations’ of world rugby even though his own team selections have regularly included players born outside of England’s borders.
Historically England have 79 wins to Ireland’s 49 in this fixture – but the last three victories have been comprehensive, an aggregate scoreline of 113 to 47 in England’s favour.
Here is the view of Paddy Johns, the former Ireland captain, ahead of today’s game: “What Eddie Jones said, ‘Ireland being the United Nations’, taunting (Andrew) Porter about his scrummaging; that’ll motivate them. Without question, England have hardened up in the last couple of years, Jones opting for players who are a lot more physical.
“People have said they’ve bullied Ireland in the last few matches. Well, there’s the motivation for us. It’d be lovely to see the Irish pack coming up with an answer to that.”
We’ll see how they go about things in about 40 minutes time.
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