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Former England international Austin Healey has claimed that Eddie Jones should lose his job if the final two results in this year’s Guinness Six Nations go a certain way against him. Jones’ guided the English to the title in 2020 but this was followed by a brutal fifth-place finish last term – and the outcome of their game this Saturday at home to Ireland will now decide whether they can take their 2022 title challenge into the final weekend next Saturday away to Grand Slam-chasing France.
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Healey has increasingly become an outspoken critic of Jones, his commentary even provoking the England coach to respond unsolicited via the media at his post-game press briefing last month in Rome. The coach claimed at the time that there was egg all over the pundit’s face but there could be egg coming the way of Jones’ face if England fail to deliver an encouraging finish to their slow burning campaign.
“The ramifications for this game are enormous,” wrote Healey in his UK Telegraph column previewing the round four championship match. “If England lose heavily at home to Ireland then they would have to go to Paris to take on France in the final round – the best French team we’ve seen in a generation, who are still in the hunt for a Grand Slam – and it would be very difficult to see how you talk your way out of those losses. It could be another successive fifth-place finish.
“Playing well and losing to Ireland and then losing to France might just about be enough. But if England are beaten convincingly – two scores or more – by the Irish and then lose in Paris, then it’s P45 time.”
What Healey wants to see from England against the Irish is their pack to stand up and deliver the type of dominant performance they have not produced in quite a while. “I have not seen an England pack dominate another for a while and that’s a concern. I want to see England’s forwards dominate their Irish counterparts.
“If they achieve that, then developing the younger spine of the team – especially the half-backs – will be far easier. Think of the wonders it would do for Harry Randall and Marcus Smith’s confidence if they were playing behind a dominant pack on Saturday against, in essence, one of the best teams in the world.
“If Johnny Sexton is persistently retreating and his ball is always slow, then Ireland will have issues. If I were England, I would be piling into every ruck; three players at least, to make the ball super slow. Fighting and fighting to make life as difficult as possible for Jamison Gibson-Park to get the ball away.
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“England have been pretty good with territory so far this championship. If they can continue with that, then they might as well compete like crazy at the breakdown. That is something that England have not done overly well. They have stood off a bit and that will be a mistake against Ireland – they have so many fast rucks and, if they get to the fourth or fifth phase at speed, then you will get cut apart.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Son, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
6 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
132 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
132 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
132 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
6 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
6 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
132 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
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