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Why England's Jamie George was 'in awe of the boys on the field'
By Liam Heagney
No one could begrudge Jamie George his light-hearted post-game moment on Saturday night at Twickenham, quipping tongue in cheek that England’s last-gasp 23-22 victory over Ireland was “never in doubt”.
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It’s been a crippling few weeks for the new English skipper. His mother Jane, a massive rugby fan, tragically passed away in mid-February, bereavement followed by a very different kind of grief.
Losing a match can never be compared to losing a treasured family member, but the fallout from the English defeat away to Scotland was damaging.
Fair play to George, though. Despite the goings on in his life away from rugby, he insisted there would be a positive response when England hosted Ireland.
Few if any believed him. The script was for Ireland to continue their recent dominance in the fixture and take the fourth step towards winning unprecedented back-to-back Guinness Six Nations Grand Slams.
But here’s the age-old rub about the championship – when you least expect it, firework-type results can materialise. Saturday was just such a day.
Italy ambushed Scotland, the comfortable 30-21 victors over England, and then the English added to the reverie, producing a rollicking team performance that joyously culminated in Marcus Smith delivering the winning drop goal with time up.
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George was uncomfortable on the sidelines by that stage. He soldiered for numerous 80-minute duties at the recent World Cup but he was a 68th-minute casualty at Murrayfield and was gone from the fray even earlier at Twickenham, Steve Borthwick whipping off his entire front row 14 minutes into the second half with England 13-17 down on the scoreboard.
“I don’t like watching but I was in awe of the boys on the field,” enthused George in the aftermath. “The composure they showed but also going out there to attack the game and win the game.
“We didn’t panic at any stage and I have to admit it was a bit emotional at the end because of everything that’s gone on. I was just so proud of the players on the field for the way they applied themselves. It was never in doubt.”
Cue a chuckle. “I’m so proud,” he admitted earlier. “It’s one of the most emotionally proud days in my career for sure. The reason for that is there were a lot of doubters after that Scotland performance and probably rightly so, but at the same time internally we didn’t listen to the noise outside of what we knew was important.
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“For us to go out and do that to a team like Ireland who for me are the best team in the world at the minute, that was a really, really special day. We spoke a lot about making Twickenham a really tough place to come and play and I thought we did that.”
The easy response for England after their leaky defence/gigantic handling error debacle at Murrayfield would have been to bin their 2024 plan, to stop blitz-defencing under Felix Jones and to stop putting the ball through the hands. Instead, they doubled down on their intentions and it bore the sweetest reward.
England boss Steve Borthwick on his team's injury toll coming out of their dramatic Six Nations win over Ireland. #ENGvIRE #EnglandRugby #GuinnessM6N #rugby pic.twitter.com/f1ZyEbEJFx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 10, 2024
“We have tried to move the ball, we have played with good intensity. That is what we have been trying to do, that is what we endeavour to do, that is the sort of team we want to be.
“The way we went out there and dared to keep trusting in the plan, executing the plan, and when you have got special players like Marcus Smith and Manny Feyi-Waboso and all those other guys, special thing will happen. It was a really pleasing result to get.
“Whenever you play for the England rugby team and don’t win, you cop flak. That is just the way it is at this level. What I was most pleased about was the way that we got together, made sure that we were very clear about how we needed to move forward and you saw a lot of the steps today.
“There is still a lot to come. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means but there was probably a lot of criticism around our attack and to go up against Ireland and score three tries, not many teams do that. We were very clear about how Ireland are a fantastic team, they make a mess of the breakdown but also their set-piece is very, very strong.
“You have seen that in their performances, not just this Six Nations but the World Cup and previous to that. So we had a great plan, our lineout gurus had a great plan around what we wanted to go and get after. I thought we scrummed well.
“But whenever you play against Ireland there is an increased focus around being really tight and assured at the breakdown. I thought we were that.
“The way that George Martin came into the team having not played a huge amount of rugby over the last few weeks, belted people, he led the way in that respect. He is a man of few words but when he goes out and performs like that he is a real leader.”
England’s round four victory has taken the title race to the final day. The trophy remains in Ireland’s grasp – they are four points ahead on the table and their finale with Scotland is scheduled to kick off three and a quarter hours before the English get started versus France in Lyon, so the championship will potentially be decided when George and co begin their pre-game warm-up.
Still, beating the French away is a worthy scalp and the belief exists that a heist can be achieved now that England have suddenly become a Six Nations team to be reckoned with again by unexpectedly upsetting Ireland.
“I really hope so. It can really bring the team together. We have had a huge amount of belief in what we are doing and how we are trying to play the game. That almost gives us even more confidence to go out and do that. We weren’t perfect but we will look to be better again going against France.”
