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Hthat and welcome to Telegraph Sport’s live coverage of today’s second (of three) Six Nations games.
England intend to bring to today’s game against Ireland the same bold and offensive attitude that served them so well two years ago, when they scored in a couple of minutes and won in Dublin for the first time in six years (Mick Cleary writes).
That victory was the first of a four-win sequence over Ireland, a confidence booster as England look to avoid a defeat that would consign them to possibly their worst Six Nations championship result and also their first Celt-wash, after losses to Scotland and Wales.
George Ford will be a key figure in England’s determination to build on last weekend’s resounding victory over France.
That game featured the kind of vivid ball-in-hand sequences that seemed like a lost art for Eddie Jones’s team in the Fall Nations Cup, when Ford himself described the prospect of having the ball under defensive pressure as a weather”. hence the heartbreaking spectacle of so many kicks.
Those dull and leaden days seem to have their roots in the past, with the 2021 Guinness Six Nations serving up a lot of positive rugby.
Ford wins his 77th international game in Dublin, third behind only Owen Farrell and Jonny Wilkinson on the all-time midflight charts, and hopes to stay true to his own basic instincts.
“I always think about running first,” Ford said. “Even in the fall, that’s what I thought. I know a lot has been about that [time-bomb] phrase, but it’s about getting a feel for the game. I base my [run-first] decision off the ball speed, momentum and is activated to keep the ball in hand, is it activated to pressure the opposition by taking the ball into space? That is always my first thought, ”he added.
“Even against France, after they scored early on, I would never have imagined that we would have so many balls to attack in the next 20 to 25 minutes. But we have to make sure we are prepared for when the opportunity presents itself. The key is to be prepared to do it at the right time. We want to leave it all out there against Ireland. We want to be a real threat with the ball in hand and attack ”.
England’s dismal opening to the championship has been offset by the tone of their 23-20 win over title-chasing France. However, that upbeat ambient music would take on a more somber quality if they lost to Ireland. England only once finished below fourth place, a losing streak in 2018 meaning they fell to fifth place, so the stakes are high in the result at Aviva Stadium.
“We see it as coming back, after the Wales game, knowing that we had two of the best teams in Europe in France and Ireland to play and you couldn’t ask for two more competitive and challenging games,” Ford said.
“We wanted to put in some brilliant performances to get two wins. This is how we saw it and that has not changed. We want to win tomorrow because that’s what it’s about ”.
There is little doubt that the forward exchanges will shape Ford’s agenda, with defense coach John Mitchell promising “a war in collapse”, with Ireland “a tenacious country, a tenacious side fighting each other hard. You will see it. as an opportunity against us and they will break ”.
Ford is face to face with Ireland captain Johnny Sexton, a double Lion, but Leicester’s high middle dismisses any comment that this game is some sort of draft audition against head coach Warren Gatland. The 28-year-old is often underrated in the shadow of Owen Farrell, yet he commits himself to the cause with renewed vigor each time he is selected for England, starter or not.
Ireland’s kicking game, through Conor Murray or Sexton, will be a key feature and Mitchell was clear: “We have no illusions about what to expect,” referring to the passing game. But if Ford manages to improve the quality of the ball he received against France and England, then it may be that Gatland could add another name to his high-middle roster.
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