Stuart Lancaster: Last game?
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One gets the sneaking feeling there might be a touch of needle between England and Ireland in their big Six Nations Championship showdown at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.
The build-up to this fixture has seen the English called 'bad losers' by Ireland blindside flanker Stephen Ferris before full-back Rob Kearney added his own, shall we say, honest feelings toward their hosts that in all probability will help interim head coach Stuart Lancaster with what might be his last pre-match team-talk at HQ.
Whether the Rugby Football Union stick with seemingly the player's favourite and decide to keep Lancaster in the hot-seat alongside Graham Rowntree and a coach probably set to be named later remains to be seen, but what cannot be undersold is the efforts the Yorkshireman has put in over these past couple of months. Andy Farrell is unlikely to stay in his role after Saracens put a kibosh on such a move while Farrell has said that he wants to develop further at club level for now.
Those of you wondering where Nick Mallett is while this is going on will find the former Italy coach doing in-studio work in South Africa. Mallett last week gave off an air of someone who respects what Lancaster has achieved in such a short space of time, alongside being perplexed as to France coach Phillipe Saint-Andre's decision to go for hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, prop Jean-Baptiste Poux, scrum-half Julien Dupuy and fly-half Lionel Beauxis ahead of William Servat, Vincent Debaty, Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc against England. We can't help but be with Mallett on this.
Onto the game at hand though and this clash is set to be a fantastic 80 minutes as history between these two sides offers plenty of spice. From 2004, Ireland are up on England by seven wins to two in an impressive statistic for the green visitors. Despite such a dominant record of putting one over their rivals, Declan Kidney goes into this one again without Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell. Perhaps that point is doing a disservice to Keith Earls and Donnacha Ryan, who have performed admirably in the veteran pair's Six Nations absence.
Without those two, the leadership responsibilities have gone to Rory Best, while Jonathan Sexton is taking on a more senior role. Alongside Ryan in the second-row remains Donncha O'Callaghan, who on Thursday also added fuel to the fire before kick-off.
"England shirts are a red rag to the Irish. When we play England in anything, we want to do well and perform," said the lock, before revealing their 20-9 defeat to the English in their 2011 Rugby World Cup warm-up was down to not approaching the game correctly.
"It's disappointing to say it but we played a friendly that day and they played a Test match. We were caught short because of that," explained Munster second-row O'Callaghan.
Judging from such pre-game feelings filtering from the Irish camp, there will be nothing friendly about what is coming at Twickenham. Forget red rags, there could be red cards in this one as England quietly go about their work, looking to do their talking on the field.
Ones to watch:
For England: Paris saw Ben Morgan in full swing last weekend and such was his form that we were surprised to see him replaced by Phil Dowson so early. But credit to Dowson as he saved a try - taking a knee to the head and Tom Croft's boot to the face for his troubles - against France and will always serve Stuart Lancaster well as a replacement. But returning to Morgan, who stunned France somewhat with his pace and power busting holes in the home midfield. Another player to keep an eye on will be new father Ben Foden.
For Ireland: He has amassed some serious air miles this Six Nations and, in our eyes, Rob Kearney is ahead of Ben Foden and Leigh Halfpenny in the current pecking order before next year's British & Irish Lions tour. Kearney looks back to his 2009 best when he had South Africa struggling to get to grips with the number 15 wearing red and if he can maintain his solidity while offer an attacking option, then England may find little joy in their kicking tactics. Meanwhile, lock Donnacha Ryan has a lot to live up to after last week's top effort.
Head-to-head: Two of the best blindsides in world rugby meet on Saturday as Tom Croft clashes with Stephen Ferris. Flanks with differing strengths, the duo should put on quite at show and it will be interesting to see whether the Ulster star can knock the Leicester line-out king off his game with one of those wincing tackles. This battle will be a real thriller.
Recent results:
2011: England won 20-9 at Aviva Stadium
2011: Ireland won 24-8 at Aviva Stadium
2010: Ireland won 20-16 at Twickenham
2009: Ireland won 14-13 at Croke Park
2008: England won 33-10 at Twickenham
2007: Ireland won 43-13 at Croke Park
2006: Ireland won 28-24 at Twickenham
2005: Ireland won 19-13 at Lansdowne Road
2004: Ireland won 19-13 at Twickenham
2003: England won 42-6 at Lansdowne Road
2002: England won 45-11 at Twickenham
2001: Ireland won 20-14 at Lansdowne Road
2000: England won 50-18 at Twickenham
Prediction: The trend suggests that England are getting better and better throughout this Six Nations Championship so we are going for the hosts to end on a high. England by 8!
The teams:
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Mike Brown.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mike McCarthy, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Tomas O'Leary, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Fergus McFadden.
Date: Saturday, March 17
Kick-off: 17:00
Venue: Twickenham
Referee: Nigel Owens
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces, Neil Paterson
Television match official: Jim Yuille
By Adam Kyriacou - Twitter: PlanetRugbyAK
Comments
chinstan says...
@Stag don't be ridiculous! Twickenham is the centre of English rugby hence HQ has nothing to do with any other nation
Posted 08:34 19th March 2012
stag says...
@jediboy: the game was a farce due the scrum. all of england points were attributable to that facet of the game. beyond that they have nothing to offer. don't get too excited, you're still barely average and remember what happened in the aviva last year when you came lookin for a grand slam. this year's match was a dead rubber. you got destroyed in last year's game when it actually meant something.
Posted 21:14 18th March 2012
Jediboy says...
Looks like some irish posters here got it hugely wrong. Ha ha ha ha as you said.
Ireland were anything but strong and must be really embarrassed by the weakest scrum performance I've seen in a long time. It was a pitiful performance.
Stag, Liam2me - don't worry. You haven't sunk as low as Scotland yet. Maybe next year.
Well done England!!!
Posted 19:16 17th March 2012
Cabhan says...
This should be close. My two pence on Croft is that he took his opportunity when it presented itself with the Lions. No doubt he's a great athlete but by my reckoning he's just not powerful enough for a six. To be a great in that position you should be able to make the big hits which I can't ever recall him doing. Ferris is an out and out blindside. He lives for the big collisions and you can see he's out to hurt the opposition any chance he gets. In my eyes he's been Irelands most influential player this season. He's also complexly dominated Croft any time I've seen them face off. Ulster v Leicester in HC was the latest example. Anyway, it's about more than these 2 and England most definitely have an edge in midfield. Earls
Has done a great job for Ireland but surely if Tuilagi gets space to run at him there'll be big trouble. I'm going for Ireland by 4 though
Posted 22:45 16th March 2012
scrumdog says...
How did 'Swing low, sweet chariot' ever become a nation's rugby song? Isn't it an old slave tune from the deep south cotton fields of the confederacy, with no meaning to the English whatsoever?
Posted 20:15 16th March 2012
felly says...
I really genuinely believe that Ireland will sneak this one. I'm surprised how everyone has such confidence in this being England's result. Ireland have looked seriously good this year in my opinion....an anxious Englishman. P.S. RIP Mervyn Davies and Jock Hobbs
Posted 19:50 16th March 2012
Stag says...
@chinstan: good how you describe the Irish to be arrogant then immediately refer to 'HQ' as if twickenham's the centre of the rugby universe. Hope that ferris and Kearney rip into the English early and silence the swing low brigade.
Posted 19:27 16th March 2012
jehosophat says...
I'm in two minds about Croft, personally. On the plus side he is incredibly quick for a 6 and handles well, he can step and score tries with ease. For England and the Lions he has scored more than you'd expect a 6 to score. His lineout jumping is excellent, as good as anyone else in white at the moment, not bad considering this is a second row's specialist area.
On the debit side he is not great at the breakdown and lacks physicality in the tackle compared to, say, any of the current gym monkey Ireland back row. And he can go AWOL for long periods... Only to come storming back into the match when the game breaks up later on.
For this sort of game, in some ways I'd prefer a Haskell type to show the Irish we can do the meathead thing as well, then bring on Croft for the last 30.
That said, as people have pointed out you need a balance in the back row regardless of the numbers people carry. If we want to play expansive rugby then Croft is an ideal player to be following up people like Tuilagi and Foden in attack, it just needs a 7 who is great at the breakdown and on the floor (not sure Robshaw is the one) and a big bruiser of an 8, which I think we have found in Morgan. So things are looking up...
Posted 17:43 16th March 2012
kevin83 says...
APV: As i said, i like Croft the down is because he could/should be better than he is after the Lions tour but didn't kick on.
I'm disappointed because he promised so much. Last week was TOm Croft at his best and he was great to watch. Power Pace, good lineout work, busy in the rucks, he was fantastic but where has that been since 2009
Posted 17:23 16th March 2012
APV1 says...
@ Kevin83, bluechief, BigRugbyBalls & bok120592 - 7 billion people in the world and bok120592 lists 5 (including Ferris) who are better. I'd say that he certainly does qualify as "one of the best" (even without my daft statistic)! I don't remember reading anywhere that he was being hailed as THE best, just up there as one of them.
If we include Croft, that's 6 blindside flankers from the top 7 teams, according to the IRB rankings. Bit difficult to suggest that he's not "one of the best" and you'd expect some to be better and some to be worse.
I just wonder why you chaps have such a downer on him. Anyone shed any light on that, as some of the comments seem particularly and unnecessarily harsh?
He was on fire for the Lions but then went into the doldrums, internationally at least. But last week there were times when he showed his Lion's (true?) form and strengths, that made him such an asset to the Lions and now for England. If his form improves further, then he is certainly worth being mentioned with those other current greats, as one of the best.
Posted 16:06 16th March 2012
bok120592 says...
Croft and Ferris two of the best blindside flankers in the world? Ferris maybe, croft not so much. when he performs (like he did against France) he is great, but he has a tendency to go missing. Kaino, Lydiate, Elsom, Juan Smith (when fit) all better blindsides
Posted 14:42 16th March 2012
J_HDK says...
I'm excited about this game because I think it will be a close game.
And judging by the amount of heat this thread is generating, I'm not the only one.
I hate to write predictions on close games
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser."(Vince Lombardi)
Posted 13:56 16th March 2012
melkdave says...
Again all im really bothered about is England improving. by putting in a good 80 mins which imo we havent done yet Also hopfully England will nick it and round off an exceptional season all things considered.But im under no illusions that it wont be a very hard game.Ireland are experianced hardened and scoring tries and to be honest a tad unlucky that this isnt a slam game for them ( they made some bad decisions in the Wales game ) and atm they seem to be Englands bogey team just hope that run finished with the 2011 RWC warm up game lol.Optomistic that the game will be a cracker to watch and hopefuly with a England victory at the end LOL
@Pog_Mahone
Even an England victory i feel wont stop the irish celabrating St Patricks day so JTP is wrong there lol All they would do is turn it into a wake and celabrate harder lol
Posted 13:54 16th March 2012
GCP_JONES says...
@APV1....
Jaysus we should be coaching the sides, great minds think alike. Really looking forward to the game, come 5 O'clock Saturday evening I will be sipping the amber nector down the local wearing the Green, and hopefully we will all be checking out a classic.
APV.. I'll raise My glass to you.
Posted 13:22 16th March 2012
BigRugbyBalls says...
@Kevin83
The "Croft = word class" claim is laughable, although I have to admit it's not as peculiar as PR's consistent description of Saracens as among the favourites for the Heineken Cup. There are times where I genuinely believe that Stuart Barnes and Miles Harrison are writing these articles.
Posted 13:11 16th March 2012
quietbrit says...
I feel this is going to be closer than 8 to England. I would say Ireland to edge it if Heaslip, Ferris and O'Brien get rolling.
For the Ferris vs. Croft argument they are very different players. Both of them are world class exponents of different aspects of back row play:
Ferris is a classic modern blindside - powerful tackle, powerful carry, strong in the ruck.
Croft is a world class link player, extremely fast, one of the best lineout jumpers in the world.
Posted 13:04 16th March 2012
Kevin83 says...
Lawynd;
Might sound a bit contradictory but I actually like Tom Croft. I think his work rate is great and showed, as you said, on the Lions tour and last week what I always thought he was capable of.
Regardless of whether or not players are playing in the right position (Dusutoir and spies have both played at 6 before. and in this tournament in the case of dusutoir) the mark of "one or the best in the world is consistancy. Croft has not produced anything like the level of consistancy as the aformentioned players.
Croft by all rights should be THE best in the world but the fall off after the SA Lions tour smacks of someone not fulfulling great potential. One good performance doesn't change that. If he keeps it up however...........
Posted 12:12 16th March 2012
mayhem says...
England to win, 5-10 points. In lancaster they believe, and are the most improved side in world rugby. Im Welsh, but even a one-eyed Welshman knows a good coach and pro mentality when he sees it. Ireland will be competitive as ever but much will rely on what is spotted at the breakdown and Nigel Owens is extremely harsh on spoiling.
Posted 11:52 16th March 2012
munster30 says...
@ GCP_JONES
they havent had much trouble doint it in the past. Ireland by 5
Posted 11:49 16th March 2012
APV1 says...
@ All - I think our fellow poster JTP may have got himself a little over-excited, so give him a break. Prop's aren't known for their humility, after-all.
@ chinstan - so what is a 6's role now, in this modern era? I remember reading Richard Hill's article for PR and he mentioned that he, Back and Dellaglio didn't play as traditional 6, 7 and 8. They each had strengths that complimented each other and that's what made them so formidable. A 6 needs to tackle his socks off, get to the breakdown early, be a lineout option, break up the midfield and shove at scrum time. TC does all of those things. Genuine question - what do you think a 6 should be doing that he's not? And do you think the missing tasks are covered well by the other players? I suppose my point is that there's less distinction, at the moment, between the positions. And with FR forwards now acting like a fetching 7 and carrying out other loose-forward roles, the traditional roles are being completely rewritten
@ GCP_JONES - you're absolutely right. but you've also got to remember that England also have to stop Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Keith Earls, Gordon D'Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan, Jamie Heaslip, Sean O'Brien, Stephen Ferris, Donnacha Ryan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Mike Ross, Rory Best, Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Mike McCarthy, Peter O'Mahony, Tomas O'Leary, Ronan O'Gara and Fergus McFadden from playing better than us and winning.
Posted 11:45 16th March 2012