Ireland and England will give no quarter in mighty clash
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Version 0 of 1. It is the centrepiece of the Six Nations and comes with no promise at all to make a romantic wipe away a tear of joy. Ireland-England may well bring tears to the eye, but they will be of the pre-match anthem-singing variety, or the product of eye-watering clashes as the two remaining unbeaten teams go face to face, forehead to forehead. It will not caress your Sunday; it is the rutting season for stags. In the debate that has been going on for more than a hundred years over the balance between contact and evasion of it in rugby, there has always been space afforded to the argument that a ruck is an admission of failure. Going to ground may be the sensible option, but it is an acceptance (one not always visibly acknowledged by, say, Billy Vunipola) that the quest to pass the ball – still a holy grail – has been frustrated. Now there is an argument to be made for a return to rucking, a hands-off cure for the ills of the tackle and post-tackle area, where players are being exposed – and exposing themselves – to danger. When the arguments are fully developed there will undoubtedly be time carefully set aside for the thoughts and recommendations of Joe Schmidt and Stuart Lancaster, two of the most astute and thoughtful analysts of their game. The pair might, on less stressed days – perhaps at the school and junior levels that remain dear to them – advocate a game of rapid recycling by ruck and sunshine adventure. But not today. Never has the game been more upright, more raised above the ground, and today is no time to take it back to ground level. Ireland were early devotees of the choke tackle and Schmidt will not be using this day to discourage Paul O’Connell from using his sumo-comm, the hybrid art of gripping and communicating to the ref that the victim of the good forklift trucking is helpless. That the prey is being mauled. On the England side, James Haskell has clearly indicated that he is equally in no mood to forsake the choke-hold. He finds it “useful”. Schmidt, having not wasted his breath on the captain, may be more detailed in his preparation of Johnny Sexton. It could be quite a briefing. Nobody, but nobody, does detail quite like the Ireland coach. On the other hand, the fly-half is very much his own man and Schmidt will remember well, from his days of coaching Leinster to Heineken Cup glory, how Sexton went on a one-man spree against Northampton in one particular second half. Apparently the spirit of retribution was ignited from within. Telling Sexton what and what not to do is a delicate business. Sexton is, however, in a funny place. Not funny hilarious, but funny as in: we know he won’t be told, but for his own good we ought to point a few things out. It’s a bit like the old days of Jonny Wilkinson. Jonny, all this tackling – you’re obviously very good at it, but, you know, it may not be good for you in the long-term. Righto, yes, message received. Smash. Tackling in the end hurt Jonny and put him out of the game for a long, long time. Injury prevented him from being out-of-this-world good – as opposed to being merely stratospherically good. This new Johnny – Sexton – is one game into his return from 12 weeks out, a rest imposed after four concussions in 2014. Contact, Johnny … be careful. Whereupon he positively thrust himself head-first into the fray. He went high as a tackler on Mathieu Bastareaud and then almost leant into the same player’s face-on tackle when he was in possession himself. As somebody who plays a game of delicate precision with his boot and by hand, Sexton is as voracious of appetite for the physical stuff as any player in the game. So how does Joe prepare Johnny? By doing what Schmidt does: attention to detail and repetition in short, sharp training sessions. Against France Sexton’s accuracy with his out-of-hand kicking – including restart drop kicks – was remarkable. If the ball can be put on a sixpence and as long as Tommy Bowe chases kicks all day – so far the right wing’s success rate and enthusiasm suggest he is not about to sulk on a go-slow – the instruction may be to go forward by the aerial route. Schmidt likes a territorial hold. Isn’t that a little dull? Well, there is nothing wrong with a kicking game well executed, a kicking game that is the principal part, but still only a part, of a wider repertoire. Ireland are not without ambition to have more than one style on the go, but Sexton will probably put boot to ball more frequently than George Ford. It has taken a long time for Lancaster to settle on Ford and the midfield combination that satisfies his wish, expressed at the outset of his time as England coach, to play with more options. The trio of Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Luther Burrell have at last added sparkle to the power – never in doubt – of the England pack, where incidentally, Chris Robshaw’s statistical record of tackling and all-round involvement confounds the old argument that he’s not a proper No7. Who wants conventional when you’re playing this well? Does Lancaster give the midfield – on the condition that their supply line is as regular and orderly as usual – licence to go for it? Joseph’s footwork, that took him past Dan Biggar in the Wales game and past three Italians for his first try at Twickenham, is so deft and balanced that there is nothing a defence can do. Considering that there are very few areas – and certainly not the clattering charges of a 12/13 – that now worry a defence coach, finding a means to confound tacklers must be cherished. And the way Joseph changed his angle and timed his acceleration for his second try against Italy revealed an instinctive understanding with Ford, a club-to-Test partnership that is just as valuable. The problem for the coach and players is that what they face in Dublin is different. The Ireland defence will not be split asunder by a bit of dancing, or by a natty line. This is for real, between two teams in the top four of the world. The day may not be so much about the strategic clash. Or even about the management of the Aviva Stadium experience. Ireland have overcome their hesitancy to love their new home. The November 2013 game against the All Blacks forged a bond between crowd and players. England, meanwhile, have used their 2013 Millennium Stadium nightmare to make them proof against atmosphere. How they turned to their own advantage the hostility of Cardiff in 2015 was exemplary. There will be no repeat of Croke Park 2007. So what will split the teams on Sunday? Presumably a mistake towards the end – one thing that goes wrong in the time zone without oxygen. And, once it is over, either Lancaster or Schmidt, those two most astute and thoughtful coaches currently at work in world rugby, may have to do nothing more insightful than wrap an arm around the shoulder of a disconsolate player and tell him, possibly without believing it, that it’s OK, that this is nothing more serious than a stumble on a long journey. |