LONG READ England ‘smell blood’ as Ireland roll out the old guard for Twickenham battle

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”

So proclaimed Henry V, as penned by William Shakespeare. A motto as English as the apple that fell upon the bonce of Sir Isaac Newton, but one that Ireland are leaning into, hard, as battle awaits at Twickenham.

Andy Farrell has dabbled with youthful selections, and teased more, but is relying on his old guard to storm England’s base and leave with a victory that will keep their slim championship hopes alive.

The Ireland starting XV for Saturday’s Six Nations encounter features eight thirtysomethings – Jeremy Loughman, Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe, Stuart McCloskey and Garry Ringrose. Another three – Finlay Bealham, Nick Timoney and Jack Conan – are on the bench. 

“It’s similar to a couple of years ago,” Farrell reasoned, after his team announcement. “This game coming on the back of Scotland beating England, and England being told that they had to have a reaction, and win. And they did, played some great rugby and won on the (final) bell. Having lads in the group that have been there and felt that – and how they can convey that feeling to lads like Robert Baloucoune – is pretty important.”

Having avoided much talk about scrums, following the opening night loss to France, Ireland are back with problems to solve, despite edging by Italy in round two. Tighthead Thomas Clarkson was called ashore at half-time, in Dublin, and veteran replacement Tadhg Furlong, after a decent, early impact, did not fare much better. The 33-year-old was twice lifted off his feet as the Italian pack demonstrated their pulping of Scotland was no fluke.

On the RTÉ Rugby Podcast, former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman commented, “Tadhg will be horrified with what happened,” he said, referring to the two times Furlong was sent upwards as the Irish scrum crumpled. Jackman noted how, like the South African scrummaging lesson doled out, last November, Ireland ‘failed to keep the (opposition) hooker honest’ and left Clarkson and Furlong “exposed” to double-teaming.

Italy loosehead Mirco Spagnolo even found himself in a position where he was defending the Wexford native. “The video of the scrum is one thing, but I’m also seeing a lot of memes that I think are disrespectful,” he declared. “We’re talking about Furlong, a legend of the sport… I understand the desire to highlight the strength of our scrum, but when you go beyond that and create memes to ridicule a prop who made rugby history, it’s not right.”

Jackman dug deeper into the scrums from last weekend’s game, and pointed out how aligned and committed all eight players in the Italian pack were.

“Whereas in our scrum,” he added, “there’s varying body heights, there’s varying leg movements, there’s varying angles, it’s a horrific sight… England will smell blood there.”

Former Leinster and Ireland loosehead, Lindsay Peat can relate to how Furlong must have felt after being taken for a scrummaging ride. “The Italians got into good connections and good shape, underneath the chest of the Irish tightheads,” she explained.

“As a loosehead, that is what I want. I want to get underneath the neck and chest and, like what happened to Furlong, just lift them. Ireland’s back five are then pushing in, from the back of Tadhg. You have James Ryan and Nick Timoney, and their shoulders are pushing up Tadhg’s arse. The Italians are pushing up, too, and that’s the laws of physics – someone is going up and, unfortunately, it was Tadhg.

“It has happened to me before, against a French scrum. I even had their openside flanker’s head in my ribs, which is illegal, but they got away with it. They were just brilliant, against us, and because we were so high, they managed to get under me. The Italians are known for being off the mark, as well. What that means is that you’ll put either your loosehead or tighthead in at different angles, and look to naturally filter them into these different cracks, or joints. I’m sure they targeted Dan Sheehan, to split him from Tadhg, or looked to pincer him in, from the tighthead’s side, and let the loosehead go under Clarkson or Furlong.”

Peat, who represented Ireland in football, basketball and rugby, and played Gaelic Football for Dublin, went back over footage from the Italy game, and found many areas for scrummaging improvement. “We’re not in great shape,” she says. “Our profile and our basic scrum DNA wasn’t great. (Ireland scrum coach) John Fogarty will be going through videos with them, from top and side cameras. 

“The front row are the guys that get you into shape. All their hips need to be aligned so you can hold their weight with bricks stacked on their back. They get you shaped into an arrowhead, at the front, and the back five are your power. A lot of people say it’s all on the front row but it’s actually not. There’s a great onus on them. For example, there’s a great responsibility on the hooker to set your mark – to set your pack’s height. Against Italy, that was a big thing. We were set very high, so that power was coming up.

“If you think of an electric shock coming from your coccyx to the top of your head, if it wasn’t in a straight line, your power would be impacted. Whereas an electric current coming from coccyx right to the top of your head, in a straight line, you’re a different animal. The Italian pack were this ‘Z’ shape with a really good profile and we probably weren’t. 

“You would always like to pronounce your tighthead, and would angle them in, but Tadhg’s job is to cut, or target, that joint between the hooker and loosehead’s shoulders. But that really went against Tadhg and Spagnolo was able to get underneath him.”

Peat notes how changes in personnel can often cause refinements and realignments in packs. She recalls how she had a muscle-memory partnership in the Irish front row with hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, and how she would need to adjust marks and body position when packing down with the smaller Neve Jones.

Ireland head to Twickenham with their fourth-choice loosehead, in Loughman, starting and Ulster’s Tom O’Toole backing him up. O’Toole has 68 minutes of senior level loosehead experience – a start for Ireland ‘A’, last year, and 14 minutes off the bench, against Italy. Munster loosehead Michael Milne scored a try, off the bench, against France and posed for pictures with his family, post-match, and has not been required, since.

“Jeremy has been very solid in the scrum,” notes Peat, “and he’s a good lifter. What he needs, and what Ireland need, is to play with some confidence. He had a poor turnover, against Italy, when there may have been mixed communication and he knocked on. He had a bad injury, last season, then was in and out with Munster. To be fair to him, he hasn’t done too badly, and he’s been decent at the set-piece.”

Ireland are going for a heftier second row, with Ryan and Joe McCarthy starting, while Farrell has busted the emergency glass and selected Beirne at blindside. Josh van der Flier returns at openside while Caelan Doris resumes at No.8.

All told, there are four personnel or positional changes to the Irish pack. On-pitch training minutes will have come at a premium this week, especially with a down week removed from this championship. Still, in the past few days, Fogarty may have been lobbying hard for scrummaging reps, reps, reps and reps.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this,” says Peat, “but when I’m coaching (at Railway Union), the players even joke that I’m up on my pulpit about scrummaging. But I do preach this to the players – scrummaging is not only the responsibility of the front row. As a back five, you are ridiculously important to all the working orders of this scrum. If your profile is shit, if your connection is shit, we’re in trouble.

“For this Ireland team, their pack is going to be over 900 kilos, against an English pack that is around the same. That is so much power coming through. Scrum height and winning the space is so key. That gap that the referee is so concerned with, you have to get your head in there, before your opponent does. If you do, you’re in the ascendency already.

“But you could win the space and win the first hit, but then the second row hits in too late and you collapse. The way I describe it is, a good scrum is when all the individual Transformers come together to make one big Optimus Prime. You have to be a collective – in your profile and in your hit. You’re all together. You have this ‘Z’ shape. You could balance a dinner on that scrum. Everyone has to be the same.”

“I’m sure there is going to be a lot of work done on this,” Peat adds, “as it is going to be a key area of the game. We can’t be giving away penalties, we can’t be kicking into touch and we can’t be putting England into powerful positions, where they are just going to walk over mauls. They’re a big unit and a big pack. Ireland will have to be on their game and do their basics impeccably right.”