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The Mike Tindall comments on Ireland which have caused a stir online
By Josh Raisey
The wave of criticism levelled at England in the wake of their defeats to Scotland and Ireland, and the secondary wave of those saying it is an overreaction, has been quite extraordinary.
But the take that has appeared to have been most inflammatory across the Irish Sea is that of former England captain Mike Tindall.
A clipped-up segment from his The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, where he said Ireland “didn’t have to do anything to win that game,” has done the rounds on social media this week and has been met with widespread disagreement.
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Ireland ran out 42-21 victors at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium in round three of the Guinness Six Nations to all but end England’s already faint hopes of winning the title. It was a performance that has not been seen so far from Andy Farrell’s side, but Tindall’s comments can be seen to diminish Ireland’s efforts in London.
This is what was said in the clip that was shared: “They were desperate to win that game, and a few of their individuals stood up and had great games, but, and there is a big but in this, they didn’t have to do anything to win that game. It was all given to them by England.
“My genuine worry isn’t about dropsies and stuff like that, because that can happen. It can become infectious. You ultimately try harder when someone else makes a mistake, and then you make a mistake, and they need to find a way of resetting.
“My worrying thing was urgency to attacking breakdowns in certain parts. The amount of times that the ball flew out the back to Mitchell, where it rolled out the back so it wasn’t controlled.
“Ireland were after it, which is fair enough from their point of view, but it was never on a plate, especially in the first half.
“I was watching the Wales game. The urgency of the Welsh.
“Tomas Williams, if no one was there, he’s clearing out, whereas I felt a lot of time our guys were exposed, because no one was there. The urgency to clear out wasn’t there.
“That would be my biggest concern. There were times when I’m going, ‘why is he jogging’ or ‘why has he not read that?’”
While Tindall’s initial point was backed up in the clip, he provides much more context to his comments in the full podcast, where he discussed at length England’s error count. Nevertheless, he has not impressed any Ireland fans this week.
He said: “England had enough position, they had more metres gained, more defenders beaten, more carries, more dominant carries, more yards after the tackle, they had more territory, they had more possession. People have said they’ve been kicking too much – they only kicked 18 times in the game, whereas normally they arrive around 32. It’s not about kicking, it’s how it’s kicked and where it is.
“I do feel this is one that England completely gave away because you can’t make 38 mistakes.”
