How England's licence to thrill torpedoed an Irish Slam

Ireland had conceded just three tries heading to Twickenham in this year’s Six Nations, two to France and one to Wales, but that number doubled as England found their way to the line three times.

In the process England uncovered a key weakness in Ireland’s game. Much was made of James Lowe’s monstrous left boot after round one – Ireland use the left wing to clear their lines and his distance is a real asset.

But Ireland have a tendency to keep the ball in play and that opens up the opportunity to counter-attack. England had a targeted plan to use that transition window to get their backs into the game.

After a disastrous handling display at Murrayfield, the England backs redeemed themselves with a much better showing, striking twice on Ireland’s kick returns.

On their first try, England went after the far side kick chase line where Robbie Henshaw (13) and Calvin Nash (14) cover half the field.

By reloading the backs on that side they were able to manufacture a four-on-two overlap in short space after George Furbank’s kick return.

Furbank deliberately travelled infield looking to set up play in the middle, as the centres and left wing Tommy Freeman worked back into position.

The full-back showed a turn of pace to get to the spot required; some would say these are easy metres but it was vital to get to the middle to leave Ireland short on the far side. His speed allowed him to do that.

Player Line Breaks

1

James Lowe

5

2

Cadan Murley

3

3

Tommy Freeman

2

England had a rapid recycle on the next phase with lock George Martin responsible for the key cleanout on Josh van der Flier (7).

While the backs will get the plaudits for their slick handling, without Martin’s work, England lose possession. Such are the fine margins in Test rugby.

Fly-half George Ford played the situation perfectly, he held up the defence and straightened up to take Jamison Gibson-Park (9) out of play.

Furbank’s quick hands were superb to commit Henshaw and preserve Henry Slade’s outside space.

Ireland’s last man Jack Crowley (10) is too deep to shut down the edge and England’s midfielders combine to strike with Ollie Lawrence sprinting away to score in the corner.

England’s backline were slick on this occasion to take advantage of the rare opportunity and throw a punch Ireland didn’t see coming.

It was a ploy they would repeat later in the game when down 17-8 to rally back into the contest, although this time from a Gibson-Park box kick.

The set-up the second time from England was to take the ball as wide as possible left to right before running a shape back to the left edge Gibson-Park had kicked from.

This was a very deliberate, orchestrated counter-attack designed to prey on the kick chase line which had overcommitted towards the ball.

England fell into a standard shape very quickly, ready to capitalise.

Ireland were left with prop Tadhg Furlong on the edge and lock Joe McCarthy inside him – not the ideal pair to have isolated and short handed.

Two of England’s spine, Jamie George and Ford, deserve plenty praise for pulling the trigger.

So often when the defence is compromised the ball doesn’t get where it needs to. George could easily carry and allow Ireland the time to bolster the defensive line, but the communication and organisation from England showed urgency and ruthless intent.

George plays Ford out the back and every other player chimes in with short passes doing the job.

There was trust the ball would keep moving, Maro Itoje and Sam Underhill linked brilliantly to commit players and find the outside backs.

Furbank (15) ran a classic full-back support line to interject on the play. He came from deep in the backfield to finish off the strike.

Those two strikes proved pivotal against what has been one of the toughest defences to crack in world rugby.

England were one of the best counter-attacking sides in the world in 2019 when they made their way to the World Cup final.

They had a highly efficient set-piece attack, scoring frequently from launches, and a lethal counter game which produced most of their tries.

With Slade at centre and Elliot Daly at full-back, they had kicking options outside Owen Farrell and Ford who also were adapt ball-players with speed. Jonny May had breakaway pace on the outside. They often used kicks into compromised backfields on counter-attacks to score.

This backline feels similar with Slade back in the 13 jersey, Freeman and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso out wide and Furbank at the back.

The back-three had three of the four most metres carried in the game, only number eight Ben Earl had more. That is a sure sign England are looking to play more expansively.

Player Carries

1

Ben Earl

20

2

George Furbank

12

3

Bundee Aki

12

Furbank was not perfect, but having a game plan to suit his skillset where he can get into open space is a must to see him flourish as a Test player.

He is an excellent anticipatory support runner. The opening try he scored against Scotland from the scrum showed this backline can click. On Saturday they reignited their ability to hunt as a unit in transition and beat Ireland to space with speed.

And when you’ve got players as skilled as Ford, Slade, Freeman, Furbank and Feyi-Waboso, why wouldn’t you play to their strengths? Most of the space in Test rugby is in transition so giving your talent a license to counter is paramount for them to shine, and for England to continue winning.

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