The rugby world will be in an unfamiliar position, hoping that England will win in a fortnight. Scotland in particular hopes so. Ireland are six points clear after three games, meaning a bonus-point win at Twickenham in round four would see them claim the title even before a trip to Scotland in round five. Just one win would be enough to guarantee that.
“It’s all set up well,” said Andy Farrell, “because we’ve earned the right to get to this point. But going to Twickenham, everyone knows what a huge undertaking it is. We Definitely looking forward to that after a week off.”
At this point, the conventional wisdom is that when Team X goes to Team Y next, they have to be better, but the reality is, Ireland won’t really be. They won 31-7 against Wales, which may not have been their best, but they were much better than the teams chasing England in the last round, so there was plenty of room for error.
The final play of the game secured their third extra-point win in three games but they almost played half the second half with 14 men thanks to Tadhg Beirne’s Yellow card and James Ryan’s yellow card in the last 10 minutes. . The fact that they seemed to waver but never get within 10 points speaks for itself.
Much will depend on England’s reaction to the defeat at Murrayfield. Farrell would not reveal what Ireland need to do to beat England. “We’re against the same team [Wales] Performed at Twickenham [in round two],” the Irish coach said. “So you could say Wales played better here than at Twickenham, but we still found a way.
“It’s not as simple as saying we need to do better to win at Twickenham. Of course, we always want to play better, but that’s how the game is, from the first minute. For example, we were at half-time Easily won the penalty count at the end of the game and then suddenly it was level within a few minutes of the second half. This could happen in two weeks. The game has its own shape but there are parts of our game that clearly need improvement. This will always happen It won’t be any different, but I don’t think England will be either.”
It was in the penalty shootout against Ireland at the beginning of the second half that Wales scored its only point, with the Welsh team’s penalty kick and shot hitting the penalty spot, and Baiern received his first yellow card. One could argue that Wells were lucky to win the award – Farrell certainly doubts that – but it almost bothered their hosts.
Ireland scored from the lineout in the first half and made their mark, then swung from side to side in the second, finishing off a try from James Lowe. After a “wobble” at the start of the second half, they had tries in the final quarter through Ciaran Frawley and Beirne.
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Can anyone stop them? One thing we can say for sure. England need to get better if they want to get any closer.
