James Joyce once wrote: “When I die Dublin will be written in my heart.” England’s players and coaches may yet feel similarly if they can fly home with perhaps the most satisfying victory of Eddie Jones’s tenure. Win or lose, the visitors’ first outing of 2019 will define more than just their immediate Six Nations prospects.
It is not just the outcome that matters. For both sides it is about dealing with pressure of an intensity seldom found outside a World Cup knockout fixture, of locating answers to questions with career‑shaping implications. A beefed-up England may have the brawn but do they have the collective rugby intellect to outwit Joe Schmidt and his on-field lieutenant Johnny Sexton? Can Ireland cope with the unaccustomed weight of expectation that comes with their lofty world ranking?
The rival coaches are as sharp as they come but, alas, Schmidt and Jones cannot both win. The same applies to the Farrell family. Stir in a dash of Anglo-Irish Brexit frustration, serve it up as the entrée to the most eagerly awaited championship in years and a pretty epic occasion awaits.
In the green corner Andy Farrell
Role today Ireland defence coach (head coach after World Cup)
Age 43 Born Wigan, 1975
Test caps 8 for England (rugby union); 34 for GB, 11 for England (rugby league)
Andy on Owen (when he first joined Ireland) “As a kid I never let him beat me at anything, but since he’s turned 19 he’s beaten me at everything so it’s about time I started getting my own back.”
In the white corner Owen Farrell
Role today England
fly-half, kicker and captain
Age 27 Born Billinge, Lancs, 1991
Test caps 65 for England, 4 for Lions
Owen on Andy “I’d grown up watching my dad at Wigan and being around a lot of people he played with – some good teams that had real good leaders in. People who wanted to win. That brought that side out of me.”
Never mind the backstop, welcome to Irish rugby’s imposing backyard where the hosts have not lost a Six Nations home game for six years. Not since England were dismantled 43-13 at Croke Park in 2007 has Ireland looked forward quite this much to a noisy showdown with the neighbours. The Farrell family reunion is merely one among many enticing subplots. When Manu Tuilagi and Bundee Aki were growing up in the southern hemisphere, neither would have imagined bumping into each other in the white and green of their respective adopted countries. Sexton and Owen Farrell are good friends and Lions teammates but the world player of the year would love to be remembered as the fly‑half who guided Ireland to back‑to‑back grand slams, something never achieved in the Six Nations.
And then there is Schmidt, now into his final lap as the Ireland coach, and his familiar adversary. Think Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty in sponsored tracksuits; the game is always afoot for these two. Jones has been busily portraying Ireland as the side with most to lose and he probably has a point. England’s squad have a stronger look than this time last year and someone, somewhere is going to cop it when they gain some consistent forward momentum.
To suggest that will be Ireland’s fate, however, requires a significant leap of faith. For starters England’s decision to fly in late from Portugal to a chilly Dublin, in a bid to replicate their autumn World Cup schedule, feels slightly odd given the stark differences in temperature and ambience. To describe the Aviva Stadium as just another patch of grass, as some have done this week, also ignores the modern history of this fixture. England have won in Dublin only once in their past seven championship visits, in 2013, and, since 2000, have only once managed more than one try in the fixture. They should brace themselves for a fight, not a frolic.
Ultimately, too, England are relying heavily on an openside still four months short of his 21st birthday, neither their back‑row or midfield combinations have started a Test together, their full-back and scrum-half have both had tricky club seasons to date and their captain is under more refereeing scrutiny than any other individual in the tournament.
Their starting XV, furthermore, contain 485 caps compared with Ireland’s 688, while those talking up England on the basis of their November upturn are conveniently overlooking Ireland’s historic autumn victory over the All Blacks. That day Schmidt’s men took a 16‑6 lead with half an hour left and held on expertly. Should England trail at half-time, even by a couple of points, they will do well to pierce the precision-engineered Irish defensive system that conceded only five penalties against New Zealand in 80 minutes.
England’s last sighting of the referee Jérôme Garcès was also against the All Blacks when Sam Underhill’s potentially glorious match-winning try was ruled out for a fractional offside that, following a hasty rewrite of the laws, would now be awarded. On the flip side Farrell can hardly blame misfortune if he is penalised or sent to the sin‑bin for tackling without properly using his arms. Should Farrell catch Sexton, for example, even a fraction late or high in the opening quarter the howls will be audible from Ballsbridge to Belfast. It is tough enough beating Ireland with 15 players; as England have discovered in the past, a careless card or two can prove extremely costly.
Jones’s stormtroopers, naturally, have a very different scenario in mind. Robbie Henshaw may not have Rob Kearney’s positional sureness, Sexton has had little rugby lately and in many respects the sides look well matched. If Tuilagi and Billy Vunipola start rampaging over the gainline and supplying some momentum, it will be Ireland’s turn to feel a bit of heat regardless of the thermometer.
It is a dangerously overconfident Englishman, though, who assumes Schmidt has not been hatching another cunning tactical wheeze or that the prolific Jacob Stockdale will not be supplying his now-obligatory big-game touchdown. Ireland are not ranked No 2 in the world by accident and losing to England at this delicate stage in Anglo-Irish history will be all but unthinkable.
The old Irish tendency to fade in the final quarter is also a distant memory. While England have some decent impact replacements on the bench in Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan‑Dickie and Nathan Hughes, Ireland have Sean Cronin, Sean O’Brien, Joey Carbery and Jordan Larmour. Seldom nowadays do the Irish come up empty-handed, either at Test or provincial level, in duels of this magnitude.
Nor are they often second best at the breakdown or in the aerial contest, perhaps the two key areas where this game will be decided. For that reason it will rate among Jones’s finest hours should England fly home triumphant. More likely is that Schmidt’s side will find a way amid the tumult and seize on even the tiniest of red rose misjudgments. One member of the Farrell clan will be smiling at the final whistle but it may not be England’s captain.
