Rugby Union - RBS 6 Nations Championship 2007 - Ireland v England - Croke Park

Match Review

by Ed Budge

Ireland 43 - 13 England

Excuse me, sir! Could you hold the door? It would seem that Ireland have arrived." 3 years. 3 whole frustrating years have I been waiting for that performance, picking through all manner of self-destructions and inexplicable combustions, watching on as confidence percolates into Irish hearts at an embarrassingly leisurely pace, and finally Eddie O'Sullivan's team has delivered. Isaac Boss' interception try in the closing minutes at Croke Park put the gloss on a 43-13 victory that broke more records than England did tackles on Saturday evening.

To say that Ireland were superior from 1 to 15 would be hugely unfair on numbers 16 through 22 who played an equal part in producing arguably the most clinical 80 minutes of International rugby not perpetrated by a team in black since 2003. Lead up front by the World's foremost second row pairing of Donncha O'Callaghan and Paul O'Connell [as a side note, isn't it about time people cut out their nonsense about Malcolm O'Kelly's merits as a starter? I'm looking at you Mr Butler] and behind the scrum by rugby's premier centre partnership, who made space for fun, Ireland crushed England with a display that was knitted together by their frighteningly mobile back row and the quiet authority of their half backs, who put their dainty feet down to maintain a tempo that England were never likely to match. Tries for Girvan Dempsey, David Wallace, Shane Horgan and Boss, alongside 5 O'Gara penalties put paid to yet another of England's pathetic mini-revivals.

David Strettle's debut provided the solitary positive for England fans as the Harlequins man squeezed himself into the corner to record England's only try early in the second half, capping a performance in which he looked the most dangerous player in a white shirt at almost every turn. If anyone can think of another plus then do let me know. If I'm really honest, negatives are in fairly short supply too, and although I will elucidate a few, for one thing it would greatly devalue the Irish performance and for another England were let down not by a catalogue of mistakes but by the glaring absence of anything that could pass itself off as positive rugby.

John Hayes, for instance, has not dominated a scrum since he was propping against schoolchildren in Munster on whom he carried a considerable weight advantage, but his ability to make Perry Freshwater and the rest of the front row look ordinary was there for all to see. The line-out was even worse, and it's not hard to see why. At some point in the future, somebody is going to have to explain to me what a "second row enforcer" is. If it is the idea of a player who does not shirk a physical challenge against big opposition forwards, I would dearly like to know why any other type of second row exists! The selection of two such professional hard men in lieu of a genuine line-out man can only lead to complete destruction of England's set piece (well, that combined with the idea of letting that stocky fellow, who must have won a competition in the stands or something, play hooker for us for 70-odd minutes), and so it proved.

The introduction of Tom Rees to the back row was good to see since it is now such a novelty to have an England player who can do that clever thing where you put one foot in front of the other very fast * and his powerful surge up the middle provided the platform for Strettle's try. But one such player is not enough, especially considering the pace and power of the Irish back row. Since I'm progressing nicely through the line-up with an even sprinkling of vitriol I should probably mention the number 8, but sadly I didn't see him on Saturday. I saw the ball come out of the back of two scrums through a hole roughly the same size and shape as a chap called Corry, but that's about as close as I got.

The half backs served up twin helpings of the blameless averageness that has epitomised England's back play in 2007. About 5 or 6 set moves were pulled of with impeccable precision and superb decoys, with only one problem: International backs have been known to make tackles when the mood takes them and sometimes a modicum of imagination, wit, spontaneity, flair, invention, magic, gypsy curses, fairy dust etc. is required to break through a defence. And in Farrell, Tindall, Lewsey and Wilkinson (have me tarred and feathered outside Kingston Park for saying that, see if I care) there is not a shred of any of those things. Will Carling has publicly called for Farrell's removal, and I congratulate the former skipper for being the first person in the country who has the intelligence to realise that Rugby Union and Rugby League are two different sports, no matter what the Australian RFU will try to tell you.

England will go back to the drawing board, but I sincerely hope this is the end of Ireland's adolescent flirtation with genuine quality. At Croke Park, young Mr O'Driscoll asked excellence to dance, and she finally said yes**.

* - Running! That's what it's called. ** - I can't believe I just wrote that. That's awful!

Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll celebrates after defeating England during the RBS 6 Nations match at Croke Park, Dublin.
Picture date: Saturday, February 24th, 2007. Photo credit: Julien Behal/PA Wire.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon