6 Nations Round 4 - England v Ireland

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England v Ireland

Twickers, London
Saturday 12th March 2022
Kick Off - 1645hrs

England team


Ireland team

The 17 point margin is probably not a fair reflection of the game as a whole, but I would add that while Ireland scored 4 tries they left a couple more out there. In particular the disallowed try (controversially from where I was sitting in the pub ) that would have made it 0-15 early on and also the Doris offload to Murray in the 2nd half which should have been executed better.

In general, Ireland fans are happy to see this offload game develop under Farrell and hope it continues until the RWC but today should have been a day to be more conservative. We kept forcing it which just led to knock ons and subsequent scrum penalties. The third try by Keenan (?) Was crucial and notable in the way we patiently went through the phases which should have been the strategy from earlier on.

Ireland's discipline, even aside from the scrum, was as bad as I've seen it since the early 2010s Declan Kidney days. Bringing through more tight 5 players has to be a priority in the next 18 months.

i cannot get my head around this so some one help me please.

Next week if England beat France, and Scotland beat Ireland, no Grand Slam. But who takes the title?

Why don't you stop asking stupid questions?

majesticimperialman wrote:i cannot get my head around this so some one help me please.

Next week if England beat France, and Scotland beat Ireland, no Grand Slam. But who takes the title?

France.

Unless Ireland get a losing bonus point and a 4 try bonus point and France don’t get any bonus points at all

tigertattie wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:i cannot get my head around this so some one help me please.

Next week if England beat France, and Scotland beat Ireland, no Grand Slam. But who takes the title?

France.

Unless Ireland get a losing bonus point and a 4 try bonus point and France don’t get any bonus points at all

Yes Thanks for that. I had for gotten France have not lost a game yet.

I think this was a great game for making the England Players show whether they're good enough or not. Randall I thought played well; Genge had an absolute stormer, as did Lawes, Itoje, Marchant and Nowell in his dual role as 7/11. We lost Curry early on, one of leadership group and one f our best players, yet it seemed to galvanise the team further.

We were outdone in the end by 14 tiring bodies against 15, but the boys gave Ireland hell out there. Genge and Sinckler (and latterly Stuart) had the Irish scrum for breakfast, lunch and a bit of dinner too - I could barely believe what I was watching.

I believe (hope) that this will be the last we'll see of the perennial "meh" that is Ewels. He's never been much more than a solid stopgap for me and after today's head-to-head with Ryan he's shown that there isn't much upstairs. Launchbury's back and Chessum's up and coming. He's just not needed.

I expected a cricket score after 2 minutes. What I got was possibly the making of an England Team previously lacking balls and nous.

Luke: Pretty sure I’ve won half-head of the series this year.
Charlie: Hold my beer

Either way England will finish top of that table.

Certainly not the game I envisaged beforehand.  England played with a combination of desperation and belief I wasn't sure this group could muster.  To play Ireland even for a full 70 minutes down a man is pretty inspirational stuff.  
Best game Genge has ever played.  Nowell rejuvenated.  Marchant the same.  Itoje was, well, Itoje.  Lawes excellent.  
I think we also saw Randall, Smith, and Dombrandt absolutely belong at this level.  George, Simmonds and most of the pack was very good.  

And, by the way, Hugo Keenan is a stud.

p.s. This is my post number 10000!

Happy Anniversary Doc

I tuned into the game just as Ryan was being looked at. Seeing the replay, it was evident Ewels was going to see a red, though commentator Dewi Morris initially tried to brush it under the carpet. Interestingly, the Telegraph awarded Ewels 2 points in their player ratings. Perhaps you get one for singing the anthem, and another for tying your laces.

While England were obviously at a disadvantage for the entire game I think it's also worth factoring that in James Ryan Ireland immediately lost their tighthead lock to concussion which perhaps was part of the reason our scrum struggled so badly.

Since I've been a bit hard on England I will say Itoje was unbelievably good for your lot. Think he was slightly lucky to escape punishment for that moment in the second half but his influence on the breakdown, lineout, scrum and gainline was immense. Take it from an Ireland fan that he is absolutely horrible to see in the opposition and for my money is the best second row in the world (imo ahead of Etzebeth, Retallick, Willemse etc).

Does make a bit of a mockery of his supposed illness though

Genge also would have been a worthy MOTM or alternatively Hugo Keenan. JGP was an odd choice for it but presumably it was decided by British broadcasters

theslosty wrote:While England were obviously at a disadvantage for the entire game I think it's also worth factoring that in James Ryan Ireland immediately lost their tighthead lock to concussion which perhaps was part of the reason our scrum struggled so badly.

I think England lost theirs too!

Lawes/Itoje isn't a big 2nd row combo.....Lawes in particular is regarded as a relatively poor scrummager.  Throw in we had a winger packing down on the flank...and it's a hugely impressive performance from England's scrum.

I think Genge has come of age this 6N and he was outstanding last night. Some great performances all over the park and I've rarely felt so upbeat after a loss at home!

Hopefully Ewels has played his last game in an England shirt and we bring in Ribbans or one of the young Leicester lads instead. It was a utter brain dead moment in a high intensity game to go along with his average performances.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

theslosty wrote:While England were obviously at a disadvantage for the entire game I think it's also worth factoring that in James Ryan Ireland immediately lost their tighthead lock to concussion which perhaps was part of the reason our scrum struggled so badly.

I think England lost theirs too!

Lawes/Itoje isn't a big 2nd row combo.....Lawes in particular is regarded as a relatively poor scrummager.  Throw in we had a winger packing down on the flank...and it's a hugely impressive performance from England's scrum.

Lawes-Itoje is still heavier than Beirne-Henderson though. I love Beirne and think he's world class but maybe Ireland should be playing him in the back row instead which probably cuts the underrated Conan out. POM isn't totally done but is more use to Munster than Ireland these days imo

I was always a bit wary of Genge just from watching the damage Leicester's scrum did to an exciting Connacht squad in the Euro comp earlier this year.

Agreed that the fact England didn't even have 8 forwards and placed Nowell at flanker is a huge credit to your scrum and an utter indictment of ours. Probably the first poor game I've ever seen from Furlong and Henderson was also surprisingly shoddy.

The old cliche "forwards win matches and backs decide by how much" was proven to be just that... a cliche. England's pack were utterly dominant but Ireland's backs won us the game. I never could have imagined saying that during our Joe Schmidt era.

Some positives for both sides imo, I think England can take encouragement from their most inspired performance in a long time meanwhile Ireland quite conveniently had some weaknesses exposed but hopefully in enough time to sort them out for RWC 2023. Don't think either team is miles off France.

theslosty wrote:Lawes-Itoje is still heavier than Beirne-Henderson though.

It's about the same, as Lawes has dropped 6kg from his old playing weight.

IRFU gives Beirne as 113kg, and Henderson as 116kg. RFU has Itoje at 115kg and Lawes at 115kg.

Red card no mitigation, fair enough. No intent though, Ewels just got height wrong. I said to myself as it happened that's game gone. I had Ireland as favourites 15 v 15 but down to 14 almost no contest. Most of us questioned Ewels inclusion in team anyway purely on what he brings to team, at least against France we'll see someone else.

However, England were magnificent in adversity. Itoje, Lawes, Genge, Steward, Nowell, Marchant all had best game since can't remember when. Whether Raynal got all scrum decisions right I don't know but Eng were fantastic.
For all criticism Nowell got after Wales - and I was one - he was superb to be fair.
Malins still not answer on wing and Daly and Youngs time surely up.
Well done Ireland on win but hard to say they played well although they scored some good tries. England understandably run out of steam by 70 mins or so.

At least it shows what England can do. Just need to see it every game.

Oh and keep Lawes in 2nd row.

I get player safety and red carding the player responsible, but I don't get that a whole team is punished for one player's actions for 78 minutes.

Whilst I have argued in the past that some head collisions are accidental and not malicious the red cards are here to stay.

However World rugby needs to do something to lessen the effect of a match outcome whereby a whole team is punished in this case for basically an entire match.

What could have been if not for 2 absolutely stupid moments of indiscipline this tournament. As it is we now have to go away to France to win the thing for the Irish.

Rugby Fan wrote:

theslosty wrote:Lawes-Itoje is still heavier than Beirne-Henderson though.

It's about the same, as Lawes has dropped 6kg from his old playing weight.

IRFU gives Beirne as 113kg, and Henderson as 116kg. RFU has Itoje at 115kg and Lawes at 115kg.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lawes was a bit lighter than that still, he just doesn't look as big as Itoje.

protea438 wrote:Unbelievable, only the Soap Dodgers can lose a game and still claim to be the better team. Utter arrogance, could see it with all the booing from the crowd when the ref penalised one of their golden boys

Did mummy help you with that or did you make it up yourself.

Old Man wrote:I get player safety and red carding the player responsible, but I don't get that a whole team is punished for one player's actions for 78 minutes.

Whilst I have argued in the past that some head collisions are accidental and not malicious the red cards are here to stay.

However World rugby needs to do something to lessen the effect of a match outcome whereby a whole team is punished in this case for basically an entire match.

Ireland got punished as well. Ryan had to go off and Henderson was a penalty machine.


Ryan has a history of concussion so will probably miss next week also and possibly longer and that's the reason world rugby are trying to change habits.

profitius wrote:

Old Man wrote:I get player safety and red carding the player responsible, but I don't get that a whole team is punished for one player's actions for 78 minutes.

Whilst I have argued in the past that some head collisions are accidental and not malicious the red cards are here to stay.

However World rugby needs to do something to lessen the effect of a match outcome whereby a whole team is punished in this case for basically an entire match.

Ireland got punished as well. Ryan had to go off and Henderson was a penalty machine.


Ryan has a history of concussion so will probably miss next week also and possibly longer and that's the reason world rugby are trying to change habits.

I agree with both of you here. I’m on the fence a little. I wonder, though, whether they could bring in a system whereby a player is red carded and the team drops to 14 players if his actions result in the opposition player leaving the game (as was the case yesterday), but for less serious incidents that do not result in an opposition player leaving the game perhaps the offending player gets red carded but their team can bring on a sub in his place. Not sure I’ve thought that through fully but I agree that for ‘accidental’ or technical reds there could be a better system whereby the offending player is punished but not the whole team. Especially if the action that caused the red does not affect the opposition (e.g. a poor tackle where the tackled player is fine and just carries on).

GeordieFalcon wrote:

king_carlos wrote:It's one game. Furlong is definitely still the best TH in the world for my money.

It's nice to see some mature, structured analysis and well natured discussion just after a tough game though. Many online forums would wander off down an alley of petty retorts and goading emojis for an hour until posters have calmed down. Not here though. Not here.

I'm sure Genge will agree as he had to get him out of his pocket for each scrum....

You sound like a football fan. Embarrassing.

I agree with the red card and understand what they are trying to do, but I get frustrated when the refs and tmo miss others. As an example (and I'm sure there are some for Ireland too) just after the Ryan incident, itoje was clearly tackled by sexton using his shoulder. Should have been a red or yellow.

Whilst players need to improve their tackle height, the reffing team need to increase spotting them.

mountain man wrote:

protea438 wrote:Unbelievable, only the Soap Dodgers can lose a game and still claim to be the better team. Utter arrogance, could see it with all the booing from the crowd when the ref penalised one of their golden boys

Did mummy help you with that or did you make it up yourself.

Nope pretty easy to see and hear. Can you actually read, pretty straight forward to just read this thread

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:

king_carlos wrote:It's one game. Furlong is definitely still the best TH in the world for my money.

It's nice to see some mature, structured analysis and well natured discussion just after a tough game though. Many online forums would wander off down an alley of petty retorts and goading emojis for an hour until posters have calmed down. Not here though. Not here.

I'm sure Genge will agree as he had to get him out of his pocket for each scrum....

You sound like a football fan. Embarrassing.

Can't stand football

theslosty wrote:Since I've been a bit hard on England I will say Itoje was unbelievably good for your lot. Think he was slightly lucky to escape punishment for that moment in the second half but his influence on the breakdown, lineout, scrum and gainline was immense. Take it from an Ireland fan that he is absolutely horrible to see in the opposition and for my money is the best second row in the world (imo ahead of Etzebeth, Retallick, Willemse etc).

Does make a bit of a mockery of his supposed illness though

Genge also would have been a worthy MOTM or alternatively Hugo Keenan. JGP was an odd choice for it but presumably it was decided by British broadcasters

Itoje was always going to play and yeah he played well as expected. Like most Ireland fans not completely satisfied with the performance but unlike most not that worried about the scrum as some of it down to being outsmarted can be fixed easily, some can be improved and some was down to funny business on the day which won’t happen every day.

The scrum was the only area that we were dominated really albeit to improve we need to stop forcing passes or ofloads all the time and choose our moments a bit better. Although we did give away a lot of pens most related to the scrum so not that worried about dicipline.

I’d be more worried if I was an England fan.

The Oracle wrote:

profitius wrote:

Old Man wrote:I get player safety and red carding the player responsible, but I don't get that a whole team is punished for one player's actions for 78 minutes.

Whilst I have argued in the past that some head collisions are accidental and not malicious the red cards are here to stay.

However World rugby needs to do something to lessen the effect of a match outcome whereby a whole team is punished in this case for basically an entire match.

Ireland got punished as well. Ryan had to go off and Henderson was a penalty machine.


Ryan has a history of concussion so will probably miss next week also and possibly longer and that's the reason world rugby are trying to change habits.

I agree with both of you here. I’m on the fence a little. I wonder, though, whether they could bring in a system whereby a player is red carded and the team drops to 14 players if his actions result in the opposition player leaving the game (as was the case yesterday), but for less serious incidents that do not result in an opposition player leaving the game perhaps the offending player gets red carded but their team can bring on a sub in his place. Not sure I’ve thought that through fully but I agree that for ‘accidental’ or technical reds there could be a better system whereby the offending player is punished but not the whole team. Especially if the action that caused the red does not affect the opposition (e.g. a poor tackle where the tackled player is fine and just carries on).

An injured player can be replaced, so whilst the team may have on less bench player for later in the match they are still at full compliment on the field.

The Oracle wrote:

profitius wrote:

Old Man wrote:I get player safety and red carding the player responsible, but I don't get that a whole team is punished for one player's actions for 78 minutes.

Whilst I have argued in the past that some head collisions are accidental and not malicious the red cards are here to stay.

However World rugby needs to do something to lessen the effect of a match outcome whereby a whole team is punished in this case for basically an entire match.

Ireland got punished as well. Ryan had to go off and Henderson was a penalty machine.


Ryan has a history of concussion so will probably miss next week also and possibly longer and that's the reason world rugby are trying to change habits.

I agree with both of you here. I’m on the fence a little. I wonder, though, whether they could bring in a system whereby a player is red carded and the team drops to 14 players if his actions result in the opposition player leaving the game (as was the case yesterday), but for less serious incidents that do not result in an opposition player leaving the game perhaps the offending player gets red carded but their team can bring on a sub in his place. Not sure I’ve thought that through fully but I agree that for ‘accidental’ or technical reds there could be a better system whereby the offending player is punished but not the whole team. Especially if the action that caused the red does not affect the opposition (e.g. a poor tackle where the tackled player is fine and just carries on).

I get that people don't want to spoil the spectacle and why should the whole team be penalised, but that is the whole point.  The current laws and interpretations have been in place for a while now and to honest I'm not seeing as much pf a change in behaviour as I would have expected.  The game has agreed that the number of impacts to the head must be reduced and the tackle one of the main areas where this can be legislated.  If things don't change then even more players are going to have their futures compromised and the game as we currently know it will be banned or made bankrupt by compensation claims.

We may not like the way things are interpreted or implemented by referees, but that is where we are.  What may appear to be over the top sanctions seem to be needed to get the coaches and players to change, for their own good.

And yes the refs and TMOs need to be more consistent.

I'd probably be for the proposal that was trialled that a red card should be 20 mins down to 14 men and then make a compulsory substitution.

Because it's true in rugby, football, GAA or whatever that a red card is a much more severe punishment if it happens at the start of the game rather than later on in the 2nd half, even if it is exactly the same offence. 20 minutes would standardise things.

theslosty wrote:I'd probably be for the proposal that was trialled that a red card should be 20 mins down to 14 men and then make a compulsory substitution.

Because it's true in rugby, football, GAA or whatever that a red card is a much more severe punishment if it happens at the start of the game rather than later on in the 2nd half, even if it is exactly the same offence. 20 minutes would standardise things.

I heard Matt Williams say that and kind of agree with it. I also thought Ewels was unfortunate to get a red and dont think anyone wanted a red pre game but get the logic as Ryan looked totally warped and should miss the Scotland game.

nathan wrote:I agree with the red card and understand what they are trying to do, but I get frustrated when the refs and tmo miss others. As an example (and I'm sure there are some for Ireland too) just after the Ryan incident, itoje was clearly tackled by sexton using his shoulder. Should have been a red or yellow.

Whilst players need to improve their tackle height, the reffing team need to increase spotting them.

The Sexton shoulder tackle was far from clear cut from any video I have seen on the internet. Bit of a stretch to say it should definitively been anything really.

What is clear though is who the better 10 on the day was.

Collapse2005 wrote:

nathan wrote:I agree with the red card and understand what they are trying to do, but I get frustrated when the refs and tmo miss others. As an example (and I'm sure there are some for Ireland too) just after the Ryan incident, itoje was clearly tackled by sexton using his shoulder. Should have been a red or yellow.

Whilst players need to improve their tackle height, the reffing team need to increase spotting them.

The Sexton shoulder tackle was far from clear cut from any video I have seen on the internet. Bit of a stretch to say it should definitively been anything really.

What is clear though is who the better 10 on the day was.

I know, Smith played really well although we were down to 14 for 99% of the game. On the flip, I though Sexton had one of his worst games I've seen in an Ireland shirt.....is he reaching the end?

Never thought I would read that an Irishman would agree that someone was better than Sexton. Fair play to yeh, for being so honest.

Ha you’re not even close. Only one guy got anything of his backs yesterday and all tournament and it’s not Smith. His goal kicking was good but offered very little else. Quite poor tactical kicking which was collected by Ireland’s back three all day. I’m sure he will learn a lot from having played against Sexton.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:Never thought I would read that an Irishman would agree that someone was better than Sexton. Fair play to yeh, for being so honest.

You can trust an Irishman for an honest assessment. I was really surprised how poor Sexton was tbh.

Collapse2005 wrote:Ha you’re not even close. Only one guy got anything of his backs yesterday and all tournament and it’s not Smith. His goal kicking was good but offered very little else. Quite poor tactical kicking which was collected by Ireland’s back three all day. I’m sure he will learn a lot from having played against Sexton.

Collected by the Irish back three? Aside from all the times Nowell and Malins collected them.

Soul Requiem wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Ha you’re not even close. Only one guy got anything of his backs yesterday and all tournament and it’s not Smith. His goal kicking was good but offered very little else. Quite poor tactical kicking which was collected by Ireland’s back three all day. I’m sure he will learn a lot from having played against Sexton.

Collected by the Irish back three? Aside from all the times Nowell and Malins collected them.

Those were few and far between and on the occasion they were offside. Wasn’t impressed at all with the tactical kicking from Smith. Why kick everything anyway, why keep Novell on as a hybrid forward if you are just going to kick all your ball away.

The proof is in the pudding anyway Ireland have scored significantly more backs tries than England all tournament with Sexton vs Smith running back plays.

Lol.

Collapse2005 wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Ha you’re not even close. Only one guy got anything of his backs yesterday and all tournament and it’s not Smith. His goal kicking was good but offered very little else. Quite poor tactical kicking which was collected by Ireland’s back three all day. I’m sure he will learn a lot from having played against Sexton.

Collected by the Irish back three? Aside from all the times Nowell and Malins collected them.

Those were few and far between and on the occasion they were offside. Wasn’t impressed at all with the tactical kicking from Smith. Why kick everything anyway, why keep Novell on as a hybrid forward if you are just going to kick all your ball away.

The proof is in the pudding anyway Ireland have scored significantly more backs tries than England all tournament with Sexton vs Smith running back plays.

Few and far between? Did you even watch the game, Nowell dominated the aerial battle.

nathan wrote:I agree with the red card and understand what they are trying to do, but I get frustrated when the refs and tmo miss others. As an example (and I'm sure there are some for Ireland too) just after the Ryan incident, itoje was clearly tackled by sexton using his shoulder. Should have been a red or yellow.

Whilst players need to improve their tackle height, the reffing team need to increase spotting them.

I'm left wondering if they even looked at the Furlong one in the background as there didn't seem to be any chat on the ref-mic about it? I'd need to see a replay but at the time I thought it looked pretty much like a clothes-line and at least worthy of a check.

Two things were obvious to me watching Smith yesterday, firstly he is definitely over rated. He is no doubt talented but not the finished article as he hasn’t succeeded in getting much out of England’s backs in this campaign. Secondly, and in part the reason for the first England aren’t using him very well as the tactic tends to be fish for penalties and let him kick points rather than let him set up back plays and go for tries so it’s not completely his fault.

I'm not commenting on who's the best 10, but I don't think the amount of tries scored by the backs can be put down to the 10 in isolation - you need to look at the backline as a whole and we know we have problems there ...

Heaf wrote:I'm not commenting on who's the best 10, but I don't think the amount of tries scored by the backs can be put down to the 10 in isolation - you need to look at the backline as a whole and we know we have problems there ...

Thats definitely fair and I do think its not all down to Smith but back play for most teams is dictated by the 10 and that is somewhere England can get more out of him.

Oh I think there's definitely more to come from him - after all he's only played a handful of internationals so far and experience is a big thing at this level - but we really need to sort out the players outside him too as I think he's being hobbled a bit by them at the moment ...

I have been re-watching the game and I am beginning to feel a bit sorry for Ewels, I have watched it a number of time now in slow motion, I think he sees Ryan pass the ball to Sexton and is aiming not to tackle Ryan but Sexton, Ryan is looking to take him out and leads straight onto Ewels with his shoulder, just below head height. Ewels is not watching Ryan he is watching Sexton, look at the arm positions, they are too wide apart to tackle Ryan coming in from his centre right. In the collision they wrap, but the whole body position of Ewels is perfect for a tackle on Sexton.

I can see what it looks like if you only look at the two players and ignore what is going on behind them, but look a little deeper and you get a different perspective.

As Ryan's shoulder also came in contact with Ewels head and he was the one moving at pace and was no longer the ball carrier it could be argued that is was dangerous play by him and that the red should have gone the other way.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:I have been re-watching the game and I am beginning to feel a bit sorry for Ewels, I have watched it a number of time now in slow motion, I think he sees Ryan pass the ball to Sexton and is aiming not to tackle Ryan but Sexton, Ryan is looking to take him out and leads straight onto Ewels with his shoulder, just below head height. Ewels is not watching Ryan he is watching Sexton, look at the arm positions, they are too wide apart to tackle Ryan coming in from his centre right. In the collision they wrap, but the whole body position of Ewels is perfect for a tackle on Sexton.

I can see what it looks like if you only look at the two players and ignore what is going on behind them, but look a little deeper and you get a different perspective.

As Ryan's shoulder also came in contact with Ewels head and he was the one moving at pace and was no longer the ball carrier it could be argued that is was dangerous play by him and that the red should have gone the other way.

I feel sorry for him too but your assessment is way off the mark.

What a game that was.
England's pack was fantastic. Genge was outstanding as was Itoje.
Ireland tried to hard in my opinion. Rushed a lot rather than working through the phases.
The red card was a red card. I don't get it when people say one player doing something stupid (as that's what it was stupid very stupid) shouldn't punish the rest of the team.
It's a team sport.
Every thing good or bad has an effect on the team. The winger scores, great for the team. The second row gets sent off after 80 seconds, that's bad. But still it's about the team.
Otherwise the game should be settled on how many players scored points not how many points are scored.
Your ten kicked 24 points. But he was the only player who scored. Well our ten kicked one and our 8 scored a try so that's 2-1 to us as it's about individuals not the team.
That's makes no sense. So either would allowing a player red carded to be replaced after 20 minutes

My thoughts on England now are that our perceived strengths, the forwards, have actually got stronger whilst our perceived weaknesses, the backs, remain a problem. No threat from the backs at all and if somehow this area can be improved we would threaten to be a decent team.

We certainly need a point of difference in terms of pace, power, stepping etc in the backs and the addition of Manu (if ever fit), Cockanasiga, Radwan, May, Watson would all help hugely. So some building blocks in place, but the ability to score tries looks a mile away.

Soul Requiem wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Ha you’re not even close. Only one guy got anything of his backs yesterday and all tournament and it’s not Smith. His goal kicking was good but offered very little else. Quite poor tactical kicking which was collected by Ireland’s back three all day. I’m sure he will learn a lot from having played against Sexton.

Collected by the Irish back three? Aside from all the times Nowell and Malins collected them.

Those were few and far between and on the occasion they were offside. Wasn’t impressed at all with the tactical kicking from Smith. Why kick everything anyway, why keep Novell on as a hybrid forward if you are just going to kick all your ball away.

The proof is in the pudding anyway Ireland have scored significantly more backs tries than England all tournament with Sexton vs Smith running back plays.

Few and far between? Did you even watch the game, Nowell dominated the aerial battle.

I dont think Nowell nor any England back caught any of Smiths tactical kicks, most of them were caught by Keenan.