The opening round of the 2024 Six Nations showed why Ireland are so far ahead of England – and the other nations – and it’s not just because of the way they played in Marseille.
Anyone with even a passing interest in rugby must have been impressed by what they saw from Andy Farrell’s side in their quite brilliant victory over France. But what I like about Ireland, and Farrell in particular, is the rhetoric and decision-making from their camp. Farrell is light years ahead of his rivals.
There has been a lot of talk in this championship about teams building for the future, the 2027 World Cup and the next four-year cycle. England is as guilty of that as anyone.
Eddie Jones talked for far too long about the World Cup as an end point, only to completely forget about the here and now. The result was that he never made it to France last year – at least not with England. It’s a mentality that has taken root in English rugby and I fear his successor Steve Borthwick is falling into the same trap.
Borthwick will be happy with the opening victory over Italy. Victory in your first match of the Six Nations is everything.
England boss Steve Borthwick is falling into the same trap as his predecessor Eddie Jones
But reports about the future and the announcement that players in the current team could still be around for the next four years are, to me, worrying indications that the present is being forgotten.
The England squad players won’t be around for the next four years – or they certainly shouldn’t be – if they don’t get results. In international rugby, the next match is all that matters. And that brings me back to Ireland. They are not looking at the next World Cup.
Perhaps that’s because last year’s quarter-final loss in France, despite being world No. 1, showed them that there are no guarantees in elite sport. The mentality of Ireland and Farrell is perfect. The decision to make Peter O’Mahony captain after Johnny Sexton’s retirement was brilliant and showed that Farrell is not looking ahead. He could easily have gone for a young captain.
But Farrell is pragmatic. He wants to win and he wants to win now. Sure, he has a brilliant team at his disposal, but the other Six Nations coaches can certainly learn a thing or two from him when it comes to the way he approaches his job.
The English campaign started well enough in Rome. When he wakes up this morning, Borthwick will be pleased, although I’m sure he would have liked a bonus point of four tries. But England showed signs of improvement.
Their offense was promising at times. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a platform to build on. Ethan Roots did very well on his debut and was named man of the match. Tommy Freeman also impressed. But for me the star man by a country mile was Maro Itoje.
One of the biggest positives for English rugby over the past six months is that Itoje has returned to his best after a period of poor form.
England won, but it was only Italy. And if they lose to Wales at Twickenham on Saturday – a team they should beat comfortably – everything will fall apart again. This is what I mean when I say your next game should be the sole focus.
England showed signs of improvement after Saturday’s narrow win over Italy in Rome
England need to plan for Wales, who almost pulled off an extraordinary second-half comeback against Scotland, and not for the team that played the first 40 minutes in Cardiff.
Warren Gatland said Wales’ first half was one of the worst of his coaching career, and he was right. I have no idea what Wales were trying to do tactically.
It didn’t help that they lost five lineouts in the first 40 minutes. You can’t win in international rugby without a set piece. But when Wales did manage a few phases, Sam Costelow simply sat in the pocket and kicked the ball into the air. I shook my head in disbelief and thought, “What the hell are you doing?” You wouldn’t teach a schoolboy team to play like that.
Trailing 27-0, Wales had no choice but to go for it and they almost achieved an unlikely result. Scotland thought the game was over and were close to paying the price.
If Gregor Townsend’s side had lost, they would have been ridiculed. Again, I come back to the mentality.
When Wales had nothing to lose and many of their players perhaps thought they were going to be dropped, they came to the party. That approach is something they need to bring from the start to win at Twickenham.
I don’t see England making many changes for Wales, but Gatland does. George North will certainly come in and Tomos Williams should start at scrum half. He made a big impression from the bench. I would also expect Elliot Dee to start at hooker over Ryan Elias.
Wales should be furious with their first half performance and France should be equally angry. Ireland were very good against them, but they were as poor as I have seen France for a while. Their head coach Fabien Galthie is someone else who has spoken about the future. He has said what the average age of his team will be in four years. Who cares?
France was so behind the pace it was frightening.
Andy Farrell’s Ireland kicked off their Six Nations defense with a record win over France
You could even see that the French have failed to change their mentality and put the emotions and eventual disappointment of their home World Cup behind them.
They had no intensity in their play and I’m sure defense coach Shaun Edwards would have gone mad.
Paul Willemse’s broadcast summed it up. Getting one yellow could be considered careless, but getting two was downright stupid. It wouldn’t have made any difference to the result if Willemse had stayed on the field, because Ireland were too good. But France, who were nowhere near Farrell’s men in terms of physicality and speed, did not help themselves in the build-up by talking too much about the future.
They are not the only ones guilty of this, but it is a cautionary tale. All that matters is the present.