England must turn Farrell farce into a driving force
Ireland will hammer Borthwick’s mob unless they use adversity to inspire them
AFTER the toxic upheaval of the last week, England will today attempt to harness a galvanising cause here in the Irish capital, to earn some precious respite and generate a late flicker of World Cup hope.
The visitors are in a corner, with backs to the wall, full of angst in relation to the treatment of Owen Farrell. Having identified what they perceive as ‘personal attacks’ on their as-yet unbanned captain — rather than protests about a glaringly inconsistent judicial system — Steve Borthwick and his squad are full of seething defiance and intent.
Perhaps it will turn this World Cup warm-up into something short of the foregone conclusion it might have been. Certainly, recent history suggests England harness a cause to raise themselves against these currently superior rivals.
The last two encounters between these countries have yielded ultimately comfortable Irish wins but only after spirited English resistance in adversity.
In the latest Six Nations, Freddie Steward was wrongly dismissed at the Aviva Stadium and Borthwick’s side raged against the dying of the light before going down 29-16. A year earlier, Charlie Ewels’ early red card sparked a stirring rearguard action by his 14 team-mates before Andy Farrell’s team pulled away to win 32-15.
Go back further, to the same stage in the last World Cup cycle, and England delivered a half-century rout at Twickenham which launched them towards a thunderous campaign in the Far East and abruptly punctured Ireland’s belief at a critical stage.
If there is to be a mismatch this time, it will surely reinforce a seismic shift in the northern hemisphere’s balance of power.
The hosts are very nearly fully-loaded for today’s game. Only the suspended Johnny Sexton is missing, while regular first-choice No 8 Caelan Doris is on the bench.
The Irish have a formidable repertoire. The likes of Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong and Peter O’Mahony give them set-piece clout, while Tadhg Beirne and O’Mahony can wreak breakdown havoc. Jamison Gibson-Park brings vital attacking tempo and beyond midfield thrust there is pace and razzle-dazzle out wide.
In short, they have so many qualities their opponents cannot hope to match. This could be the day when the desperate quest to fast-forward England’s World Cup preparation is laid bare as a lost cause, in a jarring contrast with the world’s No 1-ranked team.
And yet… England do have quality and nous. Without Farrell’s dominant presence, George Ford is now solely in charge of running the Red Rose attack and he can be a masterful conductor when truly free to call the tune as he sees fit.
The Sale fly-half is well aware of a rising panic among the English rugby public about their national team’s failure to ignite so far.
‘I know the attack is the most spoken-about subject at the minute,’ he said. ‘Let me reassure you we are working hard on it and want to be more dangerous with the ball, cause more problems for the defence and score more tries.
‘From all departments of the game, the attack — to get it functioning — probably takes the longest. But we want to speed it up and get there as quickly as possible. We know we need to start attacking better.’
Ford will operate in tandem with Ben Youngs, in a familiar half-back axis deployed so many times for Leicester and England.
He knows they have a duty to deliver, saying: ‘We have spoken about this. It is our responsibility to get this team going and we have to do it quicker than ever before. There are two more warm-up games and then there is the first game of the World Cup, so we understand there is an urgency.’
Borthwick has been heartened by the ‘resilience’ in his squad, in the way they have responded to the disruption this week — in much the same way England responded to having three men off the field last Saturday by going on to beat Wales.
He is also heartened by the return of Manu Tuilagi, at the venue where he scored his first Test try, 12 long years ago. Yet again, England will hope the giant centre can act as a force of nature who unsettles the Irish.
If this is Plan B, it could end up being quite some contingency, with Courtney Lawes as a popular leader and Ford pulling the strings. But the ‘circus’ around Farrell, as his father put it, cannot disguise the magnitude of the salvage operation facing Borthwick. It has added complications now, but it was onerous already.
In some areas, the England team is taking shape — partly by default — but in others it is not. Youngs and Ford are the likely half-back
alliance now, with Tuilagi plus one in midfield. Today’s combination of elliot Daly, Anthony Watson and Steward in the back three has a good chance of being the one used in Marseille for the World Cup opener against Argentina in three weeks’ time.
Up front, ellis Genge and Jamie George are locked-in starters, but Will Stuart has had ownership of the No 3 shirt this month, which suggests that Kyle Sinckler’s pre-eminence at tighthead is not as much of a certainty as it used to be. At lock, it will be Maro Itoje plus one — probably Ollie Chessum, back from injury today. In the back row; Lawes and Billy Vunipola, the only specialist No 8, plus possibly Ben earl, given the ongoing absence of Tom Curry. That’s just the selection dimension. england also urgently need to find some rhythm at last. Ireland are streets ahead in all aspects. This has the makings of a chastening experience for the visitors, unless — emerging from their circled wagons — they can use their cause to narrow the gap. While an upset seems unthinkable, there is a chance to earn some honour and progress of sorts. IRELAND: Keenan; Hansen, Ringrose, Aki, Lowe; Byrne, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Beirne, Ryan, O’Mahony, Prendergast, Van der Flier. Subs: Herring, Loughman, Bealham, McCarthy, Doris, Murray, Crowley, Earls. ENGLAND: Steward; Watson, Marchant, Tuilagi, Daly; Ford, Youngs; Genge, George, Stuart, Itoje, Ribbans, Lawes (capt), B Vunipola, Earl. Subs: Dan, Marler, Sinckler, Chessum, Willis, Care, Smith, Lawrence.