You would get long odds indeed on England clinching consecutive grand slams by scoring only a single penalty against Ireland on Saturday but that will not stop Owen Farrell’s mum living in hope.
Having been coached by his father, Andy, at Saracens, England and with the British & Irish Lions, Owen will be on the opposite side for the first time in Dublin with Farrell Sr thriving as Ireland’s defence coach. But it is his mother, Colleen, about whom Owen is most concerned. “I think the only person it will affect is my mum, not us. She just wants everyone to do well.” So what does she want the score to be? “3-0 England I think.”
Considering the way Farrell, who scored 26 points despite a heavily bandaged left leg, and George Ford performed last weekend it would be best to give the bookmakers a miss. Eddie Jones’s side hit their straps for the first time in the competition and they will go to Ireland seeking to better New Zealand’s record winning sequence of 18.
They will do so with largely the same personnel: Jones has named a 25-man squad who includes the 23 of last Saturday as well as Jonny May and the Wasps hooker Tommy Taylor. While indications at training on Tuesday were that Billy Vunipola is pushing for a start at No8, changes are likely to be kept to a minimum.
Elliot Daly continues to progress through the return-to-play protocols after a concussion against Scotland and there is confidence he will be available. The Scotland hooker Fraser Brown was cited for a dangerous tackle on Daly but has subsequently been cleared to play against Italy on Saturday after a disciplinary committee ruled it did not warrant a red card.
Jones is expecting a backlash from Ireland and, as he pointed out, they have a habit of spoiling parties, denying England the grand slam in 2001 and 2011. England also lost on their last trip to Dublin – their only defeat of the 2015 tournament as the first cracks appeared under Stuart Lancaster. He, along with his coaching staff, spent the week before the match expressing confidence England had a plan for Ireland’s kicking game, only to flounder under the high ball.
It would explain why last year Jones accused Ireland of kicking away 60-70% of their possession – it was about half that – but there can be little doubt that in Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton, Schmidt has two of the finest kickers from hand in the Championship. Ireland’s kicking percentage is marginally higher this year and Mike Brown acknowledges the importance of ruling the skies on Saturday. “They’ve got a very good aerial threat and great kickers in Sexton, Murray and Jackson. That’s something we’ll look at. It’s part of the job so I’m used to that now,” said Brown, who spent part of Tuesday’s training session practising his kicking with Jonny Wilkinson.
“I will be doing my high balls but I do it every week. So we’ll have all the back three, and whoever else can be in the back three doing the high balls. They’ve got the style where they can move the ball but also they’ve got the old Munster way of mauling and kicking. We’ll look at all their styles and make sure we work on our defence.”
Brown also believes England will be stronger for their experience of winning the grand slam last year in Paris. “Maybe last time the nervousness came from falling short so many times,” said Brown. “I think getting over that nervousness is all down to preparation; if that’s spot on then that breeds confidence.”
Steve Hansen has responded after Jones compared him to the Big Bad Wolf for praising England for equalling the All Blacks’ record run. “Eddie’s obviously not very used to getting compliments,” Hansen told Radio Sport NZ. “It’s not about playing a game. In this case I – and the team – genuinely believe they should be complimented.”
