The Rugby World Cup is steaming around the bend towards them but what England really need on Saturday afternoon is tunnel vision. No amount of soothing managerial words will ease their supporters’ pre-tournament uncertainty if a strong Ireland side splatter the hosts all over Twickenham and the home forwards know it.
After a tricky couple of weeks and a grim first-half showing in Paris this has become more of a keynote fixture than their coaches might ideally have imagined and the Northampton flanker Tom Wood is among those demanding a back to basics reaction. “We have challenged ourselves to evolve and do more around the field but your bread and butter as a forward is to win set-piece ball and obliterate breakdowns,” said Wood. “Sometimes you need to remember your main job is to bend over and push and get back to that.”
If victory is not yet the absolute be-all and end-all, strong words have been exchanged behind closed doors in Bagshot. Wood can already guess the party line in the event of defeat – “We’d put as positive a spin on it as we could and come out swinging the next week” – but an Irish win would all but ensure England will kick off the tournament as the lowest-ranked of the three main contenders in Pool A. “It is disappointing … I’d like to think we’re better than sixth in the world,” Wood said, all too aware Wales, Australia and Ireland are ranked above the red rose.
Much attention will be on the English lineout, not least because Ireland have not compiled the consistent results they have under Joe Schmidt through set-piece inefficiency. With Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton back in tandem at half-back, the kicking game that skewered England in the Six Nations in Dublin this year will also test England’s aerial skills, placing even more of a premium on discipline and control at the breakdown.
The confident prediction from within the England camp is that Chris Robshaw and his pack will also be sharper around the field than their training workload permitted last month. but there comes a stage, as the forwards coach, Graham Rowntree, acknowledged, where the “fittest ever” gym banter has to be translated into something more tangible. “We went into the two previous games sore and tired but this week we’ve tapered and the guys are in good shape,” said Rowntree.
“Hopefully, you will see a big difference. I’ve told the players there are elements of our game that have to be better and now it is important to deliver. We will be the first to say our last two performances have not been our best and we want to put that right. August was tough for us on many fronts, both physically and mentally, but it is a new month. This is the first game of our World Cup.”
It also remains Rowntree’s belief that England, unbeaten at Twickenham in 2015, will come good sooner rather than later. “As Rob Andrew has said we know we can win a World Cup with this group of players.
“We will absolutely get better with experience and we will be more experienced in three years’ time.” Peaking for Japan 2019 is all very well but England have slightly more pressing priorities.
