1
Why England's Jamie George was 'in awe of the boys on the field'
No one could begrudge Jamie George his light-hearted post-game moment on Saturday night at Twickenham, quipping tongue in cheek that England’s last-gasp 23-22 victory over Ireland was “never in doubt”.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s been a crippling few weeks for the new English skipper. His mother Jane, a massive rugby fan, tragically passed away in mid-February, bereavement followed by a very different kind of grief.
Losing a match can never be compared to losing a treasured family member, but the fallout from the English defeat away to Scotland was damaging.
Fair play to George, though. Despite the goings on in his life away from rugby, he insisted there would be a positive response when England hosted Ireland.
Few if any believed him. The script was for Ireland to continue their recent dominance in the fixture and take the fourth step towards winning unprecedented back-to-back Guinness Six Nations Grand Slams.
But here’s the age-old rub about the championship – when you least expect it, firework-type results can materialise. Saturday was just such a day.
Italy ambushed Scotland, the comfortable 30-21 victors over England, and then the English added to the reverie, producing a rollicking team performance that joyously culminated in Marcus Smith delivering the winning drop goal with time up.
ADVERTISEMENT
George was uncomfortable on the sidelines by that stage. He soldiered for numerous 80-minute duties at the recent World Cup but he was a 68th-minute casualty at Murrayfield and was gone from the fray even earlier at Twickenham, Steve Borthwick whipping off his entire front row 14 minutes into the second half with England 13-17 down on the scoreboard.
“I don’t like watching but I was in awe of the boys on the field,” enthused George in the aftermath. “The composure they showed but also going out there to attack the game and win the game.
“We didn’t panic at any stage and I have to admit it was a bit emotional at the end because of everything that’s gone on. I was just so proud of the players on the field for the way they applied themselves. It was never in doubt.”
Cue a chuckle. “I’m so proud,” he admitted earlier. “It’s one of the most emotionally proud days in my career for sure. The reason for that is there were a lot of doubters after that Scotland performance and probably rightly so, but at the same time internally we didn’t listen to the noise outside of what we knew was important.
ADVERTISEMENT
“For us to go out and do that to a team like Ireland who for me are the best team in the world at the minute, that was a really, really special day. We spoke a lot about making Twickenham a really tough place to come and play and I thought we did that.”
The easy response for England after their leaky defence/gigantic handling error debacle at Murrayfield would have been to bin their 2024 plan, to stop blitz-defencing under Felix Jones and to stop putting the ball through the hands. Instead, they doubled down on their intentions and it bore the sweetest reward.
England boss Steve Borthwick on his team's injury toll coming out of their dramatic Six Nations win over Ireland. #ENGvIRE #EnglandRugby #GuinnessM6N #rugby pic.twitter.com/f1ZyEbEJFx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 10, 2024
“We have tried to move the ball, we have played with good intensity. That is what we have been trying to do, that is what we endeavour to do, that is the sort of team we want to be.
“The way we went out there and dared to keep trusting in the plan, executing the plan, and when you have got special players like Marcus Smith and Manny Feyi-Waboso and all those other guys, special thing will happen. It was a really pleasing result to get.
“Whenever you play for the England rugby team and don’t win, you cop flak. That is just the way it is at this level. What I was most pleased about was the way that we got together, made sure that we were very clear about how we needed to move forward and you saw a lot of the steps today.
“There is still a lot to come. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means but there was probably a lot of criticism around our attack and to go up against Ireland and score three tries, not many teams do that. We were very clear about how Ireland are a fantastic team, they make a mess of the breakdown but also their set-piece is very, very strong.
“You have seen that in their performances, not just this Six Nations but the World Cup and previous to that. So we had a great plan, our lineout gurus had a great plan around what we wanted to go and get after. I thought we scrummed well.
“But whenever you play against Ireland there is an increased focus around being really tight and assured at the breakdown. I thought we were that.
“The way that George Martin came into the team having not played a huge amount of rugby over the last few weeks, belted people, he led the way in that respect. He is a man of few words but when he goes out and performs like that he is a real leader.”
England’s round four victory has taken the title race to the final day. The trophy remains in Ireland’s grasp – they are four points ahead on the table and their finale with Scotland is scheduled to kick off three and a quarter hours before the English get started versus France in Lyon, so the championship will potentially be decided when George and co begin their pre-game warm-up.
Still, beating the French away is a worthy scalp and the belief exists that a heist can be achieved now that England have suddenly become a Six Nations team to be reckoned with again by unexpectedly upsetting Ireland.
“I really hope so. It can really bring the team together. We have had a huge amount of belief in what we are doing and how we are trying to play the game. That almost gives us even more confidence to go out and do that. We weren’t perfect but we will look to be better again going against France.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
2 Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
9 Go to commentsWith Stuart Lancaster at the helm, Racing 92 looks more and more a mercenaries club like Toulon some years ago and they are not even performing despite all the money on offer.
4 Go to commentsCouple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
9 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
5 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
4 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
4 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
4 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
4 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
4 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
200 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
9 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
9 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
200 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
200 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
5 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
200 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
5 Go to comments