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When England last finished fifth in the Six Nations, Eddie Jones blamed the Lions’ fatigue for his team’s struggles and most of their players suffered a lack of rest after the 2017 tour of New Zealand. He shouldn’t have the same problem next season after a third loss of the season, all to Celtic opponents for the first time since 1976, revealed family flaws of indiscipline and tactical inflexibility.
England’s head coach blamed the media last week for poisoning the minds of his players, but those minds seem so crammed with information overload that there is no room for anything else. The champions started off brilliantly, fooling Ireland with innovative lineout routines and taking the lead with an Owen Farrell penalty, but they were too prescriptive, continuing to kick when the tactic suited Ireland, and too slow to react when the team local played considerably more ingenuity than in the previous four rounds.
England braced for a missed opponent and their two attempts in the fourth quarter came after Irish center Bundee Aki was sent off for a high tackle on Billy Vunipola. When he made contact with the No. 8’s chin with his shoulder, the referee, Mathieu Reynal, had no choice given World Rugby’s directive on the head contract, but if Aki had dropped further when Vunipola pounced on him, his head would have been in a vulnerable position. The flood of red cards means that players should consider ditching what they are used to and tackling from the side, risking a shock rather than a red card.
Ireland finished 13 men with Conor Murray in the sin-bin for giving away the fifth penalty in five minutes. Jonny May’s try with two minutes remaining was the meanest consolation for England, who had come undone up front and outmaneuvered Tadhg Beirne and Robbie Henshaw, who played opposite Lions head coach Warren. Gatland, turned mauls into scrums. for the locals and neutralized Maro Itoje.
Ireland, led by their mediators Murray and Johnny Sexton, had their most impressive performance since 2018. They were, as usual, relentlessly physical, but their two attempts, involving number 8 Jack Conan, who was making his first start. since before the last World Cup, he showed how they have adjusted their attack with Mike Catt.
The first, at 22 minutes, came from a lineout inside the England half. The long shot caught England ready to compete and Tom Curry couldn’t stop Conan from providing the ball to Keith Earls as the wing entered from the right. The 2009 Lion galloped into possession to leave Billy Vunipola stranded and then circled May on his way to the line.
Ireland’s second try, seven minutes before the break, came after they had carried the game through 23 phases. The key moment came when Sexton’s kick at 22 was taken from Elliot Daly’s hands by Hugo Keenan and as the game moved to the left, Conan took off a ruck and dodged the challenge from Luke Cowan-Dickie.
Put Ireland 20-6 up at halftime. Jones’s response was to take out Cowan-Dickie and Mako Vunipola, who between them had conceded four of England’s seven penalties in the first half, but indiscipline and problems up front, where Tadhg Furlong was paramount, remained. The second period began with England conceding a penalty in Ireland’s 22 and another nearly half to find themselves defending a lineout that turned into another three points for Sexton.
Jones later said the penalties, 16 in all, were a consequence of the pressure they were under, but that was only partially true. Several were unnecessary, such as the one Cowan-Dickie awarded for swerving and the one Ben Earl revealed minutes after Ben Youngs’ attempt, which immediately followed Aki’s expulsion. His problems were largely self-inflicted.
Sexton took six of the penalties to give him 22 points in his 99th appearance for Ireland. England were not helped by the rearrangement they were forced into after 55 minutes. Jones had replaced George Ford with a center, Joe Marchant, and moved Farrell to high middle, but the independent match doctor ordered the captain to leave the field for a head injury evaluation, who was concerned about a tackle from head to hip made. about Iain Henderson. Farrell did not return.
Dan Robson, a scrum half, had to complete in 10, but England were 17 points down by then and they were going nowhere anyway. Aki’s red card and Youngs try gave them a brief moment of hope, but Daly missed the conversion to put them more than two attempts adrift and penalties kept coming for Sexton as Ireland’s green wall, in the that rower CJ Stander was a piece one last time before returning to South Africa, he stood his ground.
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Jones admitted that he has to restart the team two years from the World Cup, even though he has one of the youngest teams in the tournament. Their foundation has been built on the Saracens, but none of the fallen club’s players that have appeared this year have reached the heights of yesteryear and are much of the backbone of their team.
Their problem is less of resources, with England more blessed to the players than any of their rivals, including France. It’s more that you have to let go of the reins and clear your minds. Blaming the media is never more than a diversionary tactic. Jones is better than that and now is the time to prove it.
