England to set target that Ireland can't match - Andy Goode
Despite missing a few first choice players, England can still put a scary looking team out that will surely set a target against Italy that Ireland won’t be able to match.
The men in green may even come to rue the dying moments of their own victory over Italy last weekend as well. Not a lot has been said about it but Paolo Garbisi’s last-gasp try means that if England post a 40-point win over the Azzurri, Ireland would have to beat France by 18 points as opposed to 11 points.
That is assuming they don’t get a try bonus point, of course, and the odds are stacked against them in that respect. It isn’t often that a Shaun Edwards defence gives up one of those and Ireland have never won with a bonus point in Paris before.
The only time they’ve ever scored four tries away in France was back in the 2006 Six Nations when they were on the wrong end of a 43-31 scoreline.
This Six Nations denouement has some of the hallmarks of Super Saturday back in 2015 when Wales, Ireland and England were all vying for the title on the final day and a ridiculous number of points were scored.
Playing last, Ireland will have the advantage of knowing exactly what they have to do but that could lead to them chasing the bonus point too much and I don’t think England will be drawn into that trap of trying to rack up the points too quickly.
The characters they have in the side won’t allow that to happen and they’ll be talking about the building blocks of a performance. They won’t deviate much from what they’ve been doing for a while now and if they dominate the set piece and gainline as they have been doing, the points will come.
We didn’t see anything at all from Italy again last week that suggested they could keep the score down too much against England. They kicked the leather off the ball for most of the game so I’m sure England will have been doing a lot of unstructured kick return play in training and working on getting into their shape.
In terms of the team selection, it’s great to see Jonny Hill finally rewarded for his phenomenal form for Exeter this season. He’s been an absolute rock star in a double-winning Chiefs team and has stood out above other international players.
At the other end of the international experience spectrum, it’s great to see Ben Youngs become just the second Englishman to reach 100 caps. It’s a shame friends and family won’t be there to share it with him but he’ll just be focusing on making sure he finishes the day as Six Nations champion.
To reach a century of caps for a country with the talent and resources that England have is a magnificent achievement, not bad when you consider he started his professional career as a spotty 16-year-old playing inside me!
The one selection I am surprised about is George Furbank’s inclusion to be honest because we could have seen Anthony Watson at full-back and Ollie Thorley, who was the joint top try-scorer in the Premiership, on the wing.
Furbank had a very tough introduction to international rugby and his form hasn’t been great for Northampton since the restart but it’s good to see Eddie Jones sticking by players and giving them more chances as that hasn’t always been the case.
The Saints man is covering fly half as well, which I definitely don’t think would be the case if the opposition was anyone other than Italy. The word from inside the Northampton camp is that he’s more than capable of playing there and Jones has obviously seen things in training that the rest of us haven’t in recent months.
Furbank struggled under the high ball in his first couple of caps and he’s likely to have a fair few more of those to deal with in Rome but he and England will have plenty of opportunities to show what they can do in attack and it’s hard to see anything but a big win.
I fully expect the margin of victory to be at least 35 points for England and I just can’t see Ireland hammering this French side in Paris or beating them and scoring four tries so it looks like it’ll be a third title in five years for Eddie Jones but, given the strange events of 2020 so far, who knows what’s going to happen.
Comments on RugbyPass
‘UK athletes' have been in the NFL from the start.
1 Go to commentsIt’s going to be Scott Barrett. He’s the coaches mate and captain of a previously elite team. Ardie a great option but scooter has worked with the coach and Ardie still as big a leader as needed.
23 Go to commentsI commend Colin Scotts bio All Balls. He was the first Aussie to make it to NFL. But he was poached and did a full apprenticeship at the University of Hawaii. He was 130kgs surfed played 1st grade cricket etc. big guy by normal but not NFL standards and a top athlete. Even then the nfl were picking up Tongans and Samoans for their natural size and explosive power. They want explosive power not cardio from the big boys so a guy like Taniela Tupou would have been good if picked up young enough. He has fast twitch and they’d bulk the little lad up and give him something to do. soccer teams set up academies and look for Over Sara’s talent eg Messi was at Barcelona since a teenager and harry kewell went to Leeds as a teenager like 16 or something.
11 Go to commentsThe article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
23 Go to commentsI guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
45 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
45 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
45 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
7 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
7 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to comments