It is the Grand Slam show down in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday in the 2011 RBS Six Nations, as England look for a win which would give them their first Grand Slam since 2003. After winning their opening three matches of this year’s campaign, England were made to work very hard by Scotland, in a disappointing effort by the home side at Twickenham. Still, Martin Johnson’s men had more than enough to play out a tough victory, but it will raise questions about their ability to see off Ireland in Dublin, as well as question their credentials for winning the Rugby World Cup later this year. England were drawn into a scrappy match by the Scots in the Calcutta Cup match, who set out to spoil and slow England ball, taking the threat out of the English pace in the game. It was an error strewn game, with no consistency or fluency from either side, and while England dominated possession, poor handling and poor decisions really deprived them of running up a convincing win. Credit must go to the Scottish defence though, and while they didn’t look a threat at all going forward, they certainly stifled England’s creativity when it counted. England will probably be happy to have gotten that one rough game out of the way. It usually happens in tournaments, a team will find the going hard in one match when they are favourites. But now it is on to Ireland, which is one of the toughest places in World Rugby to go to, according to the England coach.
The Grand Slam talk is being hyped up, although England looked a long way short of being able to land it at the start of the tournament, with a tricky opener against Wales in Cardiff, and this curtain closer against the Irish. Maybe the tough match against the Scots was just what England needed, because it will have instilled some more fight in them, instead of having just cruised the match which could have bred complacency. Ireland will definitely give England a fight, and it should be a cracking game. England are in a strong enough position to be named Six Nations champions regardless of the outcome of the match against Ireland, holding a far superior points difference to Wales, the only team who can catch them, but England want to go out with a bang. They have lost the services of captain Mike Tindall, who limped out of the Scotland match, so the captaincy now gets handed to Nick Easter, who never seems to have a bad game for England. The England number 8 is one of the stalwarts of the team, who always seems to be there in the right place at the right time. In to the centre comes the versatile Matt Banahan to replace Tindall. The big Banahan has spent a lot of time on the wing in his career, but has also been working hard in training in the number 13 shirt with his club, Bath, and comes into the England line in pretty good form. That has been the only change as Johnson goes with continuity in his side. Winger David Strettle gets promoted to the bench as Banahan starts. Despite Tom Croft coming on and scoring England’s only try against the Scots, he starts from the bench again, conceding his place to Tom Wood in the starting line up. England will need to be better than they were against Scotland, but they will need to fight just as hard, because no-one likes spoiling the English party quite as much as Ireland.
The hosts have drafted in Andrew Trimble and Jonathan Sexton for the match, and the Irish will be smarting after losing to Wales at the Millennium Stadium last week. Sexton’s promotion to the starting fifteen comes at the expense of Ronan O’Gara who moves to the replacements bench. Although Eoin Redden has been named at Scrum Half, Ireland are waiting for the all clear on him, after suffering a concussion in last week’s defeat against Wales. It has been a mixed RBS Six Nations for the Irish, who haven’t quite been able to pull things together. After narrowly avoiding defeat to Italy in Rome in their first match, there then came a rough three point defeat by France at the Aviva Stadium. They bounced back with a narrow victory over Scotland. Then there came a narrow three point win over Scotland at Murrayfield, before going down 19-13 to Wales, after holding the lead in the match. Ireland have been guilty of a lot of handling errors and poor decisions in their matches this year, and they do not look a confident side at all. But form can always be thrown out of the window when England come to visit, because that is a match for which they will always be up for scrap. What Ireland do have on their side of course, is history. Ever since England hammered Ireland 42-6 the last time the Grand Slam was on the line back in 2003, Ireland have won six of the seven meetings between the two countries. Captain Brian O’Driscoll is ready to prey upon any nerves that England may be carrying into the match, with the weight of expectancy over their Grand Slam credentials weighing on them. If Ireland lose on Saturday, it will equal their worst Six Nations performance.
Ireland v England RBS Six Nations Rugby Betting Tip:
There are questions over the Irish, confidence, tactics and personnel. England are definitely in a much stronger position in terms of all of that, but this is not going to be an easy match. The Irish, who have been guilty of taking penalties to slow games down this year, will look to cause England as much disruption as they can. England should have the edge in the scrums and the line-out, but the Irish midfield will give the English centre’s a lot to think about. There is so much anticipation about this match, it could be a close, hard fought, scrappy encounter. England have to be more clinical and more decisive with their running. If they can get quick ball, and not suffer too many jitters, they can close this one out. Worth looking at England in the handicaps then, with England -4 going for Evens at Bet365.
Ireland v England head to head statistics
Despite Ireland’s good form against England recently (six wins out of the last seven matches), the over all head to head stands firmly in England’s favour. There have been 123 matches played between the two sides, with England winning 70 and Ireland triumphant in 45 of them. There have been 8 draws. The largest winning margin between the two sides, was a 46-6 thumping handed out by England. As for the average points scored when the two nations meet, England lead the way with 11.83 points per match against Ireland, while the Irish have averaged 80.5 points. That is just under a four point difference between the two sides, and it really could be that close in Dublin on Saturday. The only time England have beaten Ireland since the 2003 Grand Slam, was in 2008’s 33-10 victory at Twickenham.
Ireland v England Betting Odds
Ireland to win: 9/5 at SportingBet
Draw: 25/1 at Paddy Power
England to win: 8/13 at Stan James
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