How England's licence to thrill torpedoed an Irish Slam
Ireland had conceded just three tries heading to Twickenham in this year’s Six Nations, two to France and one to Wales, but that number doubled as England found their way to the line three times.
In the process England uncovered a key weakness in Ireland’s game. Much was made of James Lowe’s monstrous left boot after round one – Ireland use the left wing to clear their lines and his distance is a real asset.
But Ireland have a tendency to keep the ball in play and that opens up the opportunity to counter-attack. England had a targeted plan to use that transition window to get their backs into the game.
After a disastrous handling display at Murrayfield, the England backs redeemed themselves with a much better showing, striking twice on Ireland’s kick returns.
On their first try, England went after the far side kick chase line where Robbie Henshaw (13) and Calvin Nash (14) cover half the field.
By reloading the backs on that side they were able to manufacture a four-on-two overlap in short space after George Furbank’s kick return.
Furbank deliberately travelled infield looking to set up play in the middle, as the centres and left wing Tommy Freeman worked back into position.
The full-back showed a turn of pace to get to the spot required; some would say these are easy metres but it was vital to get to the middle to leave Ireland short on the far side. His speed allowed him to do that.
England had a rapid recycle on the next phase with lock George Martin responsible for the key cleanout on Josh van der Flier (7).
While the backs will get the plaudits for their slick handling, without Martin’s work, England lose possession. Such are the fine margins in Test rugby.
Fly-half George Ford played the situation perfectly, he held up the defence and straightened up to take Jamison Gibson-Park (9) out of play.
Furbank’s quick hands were superb to commit Henshaw and preserve Henry Slade’s outside space.
Ireland’s last man Jack Crowley (10) is too deep to shut down the edge and England’s midfielders combine to strike with Ollie Lawrence sprinting away to score in the corner.
England’s backline were slick on this occasion to take advantage of the rare opportunity and throw a punch Ireland didn’t see coming.
It was a ploy they would repeat later in the game when down 17-8 to rally back into the contest, although this time from a Gibson-Park box kick.
The set-up the second time from England was to take the ball as wide as possible left to right before running a shape back to the left edge Gibson-Park had kicked from.
This was a very deliberate, orchestrated counter-attack designed to prey on the kick chase line which had overcommitted towards the ball.
England fell into a standard shape very quickly, ready to capitalise.
Ireland were left with prop Tadhg Furlong on the edge and lock Joe McCarthy inside him – not the ideal pair to have isolated and short handed.
Two of England’s spine, Jamie George and Ford, deserve plenty praise for pulling the trigger.
So often when the defence is compromised the ball doesn’t get where it needs to. George could easily carry and allow Ireland the time to bolster the defensive line, but the communication and organisation from England showed urgency and ruthless intent.
George plays Ford out the back and every other player chimes in with short passes doing the job.
There was trust the ball would keep moving, Maro Itoje and Sam Underhill linked brilliantly to commit players and find the outside backs.
Furbank (15) ran a classic full-back support line to interject on the play. He came from deep in the backfield to finish off the strike.
Those two strikes proved pivotal against what has been one of the toughest defences to crack in world rugby.
England were one of the best counter-attacking sides in the world in 2019 when they made their way to the World Cup final.
They had a highly efficient set-piece attack, scoring frequently from launches, and a lethal counter game which produced most of their tries.
With Slade at centre and Elliot Daly at full-back, they had kicking options outside Owen Farrell and Ford who also were adapt ball-players with speed. Jonny May had breakaway pace on the outside. They often used kicks into compromised backfields on counter-attacks to score.
This backline feels similar with Slade back in the 13 jersey, Freeman and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso out wide and Furbank at the back.
The back-three had three of the four most metres carried in the game, only number eight Ben Earl had more. That is a sure sign England are looking to play more expansively.
Furbank was not perfect, but having a game plan to suit his skillset where he can get into open space is a must to see him flourish as a Test player.
He is an excellent anticipatory support runner. The opening try he scored against Scotland from the scrum showed this backline can click. On Saturday they reignited their ability to hunt as a unit in transition and beat Ireland to space with speed.
And when you’ve got players as skilled as Ford, Slade, Freeman, Furbank and Feyi-Waboso, why wouldn’t you play to their strengths? Most of the space in Test rugby is in transition so giving your talent a license to counter is paramount for them to shine, and for England to continue winning.
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Comments on RugbyPass
“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy 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!
5 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 …
33 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.
5 Go to comments