ENGLAND RUGBY CAPTAIN Mike Tindall has been ruled of Saturday’s Six Nations clash with Ireland, as expected, due to the ankle ligament injury he picked up last week against Scotland.
Tindall will be replaced in the centre by 17-and-a-half stone Matt Banahan of Bath, after a citing officer cleared him of any wrongdoing in the incident that led to Scotland’s Kelly Brown being stretchered off last week. Banahan’s promotion means that Saracen’s David Strettle moves up to the bench.
England coach Martin Johnson believes the switch should not pose any problems to the balance of the team:
Matt Banahan has been in great form. He was on the wing early on but he’s played quite a bit at 13 with Bath and he’s done a lot of reps there in training. He’s been very good and hopefully it will be a pretty smooth transition.
England make their first visit to the Aviva Stadium on the back of four straight victories and in search of a first Grand Slam since 2003, when they crushed Ireland 42-6 in the deciding game at the old Lansdowne Road.
Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll believes the pressure is very much on England and says that is something that can be exploited.
You understand that and if you see a potential frailty you have to go after that. I don’t know too many of the England team and whether there is a new breed coming through full of confidence… but they will have some nerves like you would for any Grand Slam game and it’s our job to try to bring those nerves out and compound them.
O’Driscoll is the only survivor from the 2003 game, and he says Ireland were taught some valuable lessons that day.
When you have won four games your confidence is reasonably high, but the better team won on the day and in going on to win the World Cup they proved the quality of side they were.
We were shown how to play a powerful, dominant game. That was the English at their best. It was part of a learning curve that brought us a Triple Crown the following year and the Grand Slam, albeit six years later.
Ireland will not go into Saturday’s game with any fear of England. Since 2003, Ireland have won seven of the eight meetings between the two sides. O’Driscoll will be keen to make it eight from nine, denying England a precious Grand Slam in the process.
