Forget Six Nations momentum, England have found something more important eight months out from a RWC
As George Ford carried the ball into touch and brought an end to the game in Dublin on Saturday, you could be forgiven for having not predicted this particular outcome.
Ireland were strong favourites. They were reigning Guinness Six Nations champions, having secured a Grand Slam a year previously, and they had backed that up with impressive summer and autumn campaigns, including knocking off New Zealand in a game where they had looked comfortably the superior side.
A few predictions of an England win had been doing the rounds and it was certainly a possibility, but no one, save likely for those inside the camp, saw the ruthlessness of that England performance coming, nor did they see the emphatic nature of the victory as anything other than the longest of shots.
It’s not that England were that far behind Ireland in 2018, it’s just that the Six Nations is often brutally tight, home advantage is a big contributor to results and that the momentum, prior to kick-off at the Aviva Stadium, had largely been with the hosts.
For Ireland, it’s a wake-up call. Just their second defeat in 20 games, Joe Schmidt now has the remainder of the Six Nations to ponder what went wrong, adjust if he feels they need to and then attempt to unleash a backlash that allows them to retain that lost momentum. They certainly wouldn’t be the first team to re-plot their course in a Rugby World Cup year and then go on to enjoy success at the competition.
As for England, they have now propelled themselves fully into the championship. France loom on the horizon, with Le Crunch set to take place at Twickenham on Sunday, whilst questions on the back row, back three and front row all continue to answer themselves. Ben Youngs turned in a performance of the highest quality at scrum-half and Owen Farrell looked comfortable as ever at fly-half, now four games into his stint back at his preferred position, after a couple of years at inside centre.
Perhaps the most important thing England got out of the contest, however, was the chemistry and effectiveness that their new-look midfield displayed.
In the Six Nations, nothing matters as much as momentum. England now have that, and they have a shot at retaining the title they won in 2016 and 2017, but it’s impossible to ignore the Rugby World Cup elephant in the room. With an eye on that tournament in Japan, one of the biggest concerns about England coming into the year was the balance of their midfield.
Eddie Jones’ line was that Manu Tuilagi was an outside centre. Certainly no shortage of them in English rugby.
Fourteen minutes of rugby, that’s all Ben Te’o needed to be parachuted into England’s squad for the autumn internationals.
Jonathan Joseph was injured, Farrell’s duties at 12 vacated in a desire to move him to 10 and Alex Lozowski and Ollie Devoto continued to flirt around the fringes. Elliot Daly and Jack Nowell were both options, but seemingly preferred at other positions.
The only midfield constant for England over the entirety of the last two international windows has been Henry Slade at 13.
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Watch: Mako Vunipola and Jonny May speak to RugbyPass following England’s win
On Saturday afternoon, he rewarded that faith with arguably his best performance in an England jersey and, coupled with Tuilagi at inside centre, England may have stumbled into their best midfield combination. Let’s not forget, if Te’o had been fit, he would have, in all likelihood, started in place of Tuilagi in Dublin.
As a pair, playing off of the impressive Farrell at 10, Tuilagi and Slade shone. They interchanged at 12, keeping Ireland’s defence guessing as to where Tuilagi would hit the line, and several times the Leicester centre ran back inside against the grain, collecting pop passes from Farrell or Slade that saw him making inroads into the green line.
Combining those outside-to-inside lines with more orthodox straight-running and outside arcs at 12 and 13, Tuilagi showed a more versatile attacking game in the jersey than the one Te’o was able to put together in the autumn.
In fairness to Te’o, he did not get the luxury of the front-foot ball that Tuilagi enjoyed on Saturday and purely as a one-out runner or strike runner, Tuilagi could not match Te’o’s power. That said, where Te’o and Slade felt like individual players in the autumn, Tuilagi and Slade felt like a combination in Dublin.
That chemistry, surprising given this was the first time they played together, was only further highlighted on defence.
In the autumn, England’s midfield were caught tight and narrow a number of times, with teams enjoying any kind of tempo capable of pushing the ball wide, turning the corner and isolating England’s wings. Whether a symptom of a lack of game time for Te’o at that point, a disconnect between the two or a general lack of lateral mobility, the pair were regularly caught close to the ruck.
With Tuilagi in and shifting between 12 and 13, as well as utilising his more agile speed to shoot out and track down Irish ball-carriers with dominant and efficient solo tackles, England were able to cut off Ireland’s width on Saturday, rather than being exposed by it.
There were other contributary factors, like the spoiling and slowing work done at the breakdown by Mako Vunipola and Tom Curry in particular, but it was certainly noticeable the trust Tuilagi and Slade had in each other defensively and their ability to move laterally just as well as they did vertically. In no moment was this as evident as when Slade made his excellent defensive read late in the second half, hunted down Sexton’s pass and dived to intercept, before crawling over the line for a try.
Where Te’o and Slade felt serviceable, and capable of doing a job for England, Tuilagi and Slade felt like a unit that had been playing together for years, not minutes. Their synergy with Farrell shouldn’t go under the radar, either, as the Saracen is the man that Jones has now committed to at fly-half. Similarly, they linked up well with Daly when he joined the back line, another player that Jones has seemingly committed to ahead of the RWC.
The elephant in the room moving forward, of course, will be the fitness of Tuilagi, who was playing in just his third game for England since 2014 on Saturday.
This RWC cycle has not been a kind one, with injuries wrecking season after season for the 27-year-old, but with each passing week that he stays fit for both Leicester and England, hope is kindled that the worst of those issues are behind him.
If he can stay out of the treatment room and keep himself on the pitch, the potential partnership he could form with Slade should have England fans salivating.
The next few weeks will be interesting ones for Jones and England, with Te’o set to return and the ensuing selection dilemma that will play out in the Australian’s head. Does he go to his favoured option in Te’o or does he trust in Tuilagi, who he has previously described as a 13, continuing to fill that void outside of Farrell?
A home Le Crunch in seven days is not going to lack for any kind of hype or excitement, but the decisions to be made in the midfield, as well as the performance they come out with at Twickenham, adds another level of intrigue to an already compelling fixture.
Watch: Conor Murray reflects on defeat to England
Comments on RugbyPass
Starts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
2 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
2 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
86 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
228 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to comments