1
Arrogant Ireland cheerleaders brought down to earth with a slap
It is unbelievable to think that after one swing of Marcus Smith’s right foot, England can be crowned Six Nations Champions in Lyon next Saturday night, especially given all of the negativity surrounding Steve Borthwick, his team selections, tactics, performances and the overall state of the game in the country.
ADVERTISEMENT
A bonus-point win over France and a victory earlier in the afternoon for Scotland in Ireland could see Borthwick’s side pull off one of the most unlikely Championship wins in recent years. This is all the more remarkable, considering how deep they needed to dig in the second half to see off Italy by the narrowest of margins in their opening game.
Another second-half comeback was needed to beat a youthful Wales team in their second game, but the knives for Borthwick and his side well and truly came out when Duhan van der Merwe’s hat-trick saw Scotland claim a fourth successive Calcutta Cup victory.
England were the architects of their own downfall at Murrayfield after making 24 handling errors and turning the ball over 22 times, and it seemed that Ireland only had to turn up in South-West London to continue their march towards becoming the first team since England in 1992 to secure a second successive Grand Slam.
It was certainly the case for the Irish media, who have been claiming for over a month that Andy Farrell’s side are without equal in Europe and were going to coast through to the Grand Slam with the breathtaking air of arrogance that they have so often levelled at England and their fans down the years.
And then you have the talking heads; former players saying silly things in the media in return for a payday. Peter Stringer, who clearly needs to give his head a wobble after claiming no England player gets into the Ireland team, or Jamie Heaslip proclaiming Ireland would need to go down 13 or 14 men for England to win. Talk about getting ahead of yourself.
ADVERTISEMENT
But probably the worst piece of cheerleading of the lot was Simon Zebo’s ridiculous prediction that Ireland would win by 35 points. Did he honestly believe that, or was the former prankster of the Irish camp just singing for his supper? If he believed that, then the men in white coats will be around shortly.
You ok @SimonZebo?! 35 points?! @BoyleSports 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/o9vQccXdtM
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) March 9, 2024
Maybe Borthwick, instead of giving a Churchillian-style pre-match address to his troops could have just read out a choice selection of the nonsense coming from across the Irish Sea. Then again, Farrell’s team might just have read what was being said and started to believe their own publicity.
For the first 35 minutes, they were given what is known in south-east London as a proper slap, but Ireland, to their credit, kept the scoreboard ticking over, as all good teams do. England were more direct and decisive – and had they been more clinical and not missed a couple of penalties – would have been comfortably ahead.
The second half was equally enthralling, swinging one way and then another before Smith, the poster boy for English rugby, stepped up with a last-gasp drop goal to deliver the kind of knockout blow that is estimated to have earned Anthony Joshua £40 million against Francis Ngannou just 16 hours before.
“I don’t think he’s got what it takes to deliver the killer blow against those top sides.”
😳 #ENGvIRE | #sixnations pic.twitter.com/zyZrxdoYYI
ADVERTISEMENT— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 9, 2024
In the grand scheme of things, it might not have been as significant as Jonny Wilkinson’s World Cup-winning drop goal in 2003 or the three drop goals that George Ford slotted over against Argentina in the World Cup earlier this season, but it could very well kickstart the belief that England under Borthwick can be a force.
But unlike the Irish media – who I understand were pretty crestfallen in the Twickenham media centre after the final whistle – let’s not get too carried away. This is very much a work in progress, but the likes of Smith, Ben Earl, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Martin, Ollie Lawrence, Tommy Freeman, Chandler Cunningham-South and Ollie Chessum certainly have age on their side, and there is no shortage of talent in the English game.
Fin Smith and Jack van Poortvliet are both injured. Freddie Steward, arguably their best player in the first two games, dropped. Then you have the likes of Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Greg Fisilau, and Olly Hartley, who are all hotly tipped to win caps in the near future, waiting patiently in the wings for their chance.
Earl rightly attacked England’s critics after the Ireland win, saying the result wasn’t ‘bad for England’s worst-ever team.’ But anybody who claims this is England’s worst-ever team should look up the 1966 team that didn’t win a game and only claimed a draw with Ireland.
If anything, yesterday’s result has taught me to focus less on social media likes for criticising Borthwick and give him time to prove us all wrong by building a team that gives us regular moments of euphoria like the one we felt when Smith’s kick sailed between the uprights.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments