Category: Ireland Rugby

Interim head coach brings back Gareth Anscombe and club familiarity for visit of defending champions on Saturday

Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes. Matt Sherratt, newly installed as Warren Gatland’s replacement, however temporarily, has picked his first Wales team. No one is expecting much more from it than a 15th consecutive defeat when Ireland come to Cardiff for round three, but there is at least a feeling of the rational about his selection.

Perhaps 14 losses in a row can mess with even the most seasoned mind. This is not suddenly a team bursting with experience, but where some of Gatland’s selections seemed wanton rejections of received wisdom Sherratt has responded with the selector’s equivalent of putting his foot on the ball. Wales are not blessed with a luxury of options, but when there are simple solutions to the quandary of, for example, who to pick at fly-half, sometimes it is best to go with them.

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Ireland’s forwards and Sam Prendergast make it 11 wins in a row for Ireland over Scotland.

Cycling legend Chris Hoy hands referee James Doleman the match ball.

He’s almost welling up. Nice touch.

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• Former captain’s recovery provides boost to Borthwick
• Earl declares trust in head coach and teammates

The former England captain Jamie George has been declared fit for the daunting Six Nations clash with France on Saturday after recovering from a hamstring injury, handing Steve Borthwick a welcome boost as his side seek to “break the dam” after another disheartening defeat.

George missed England’s 27-22 loss against Ireland after picking up the injury in Saracens’ Champions Cup defeat by Castres, capping a miserable week after he had been stripped of the England captaincy six days earlier.

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This England side have character and can carry out a game plan, but there is no guarantee they will improve in time

Steve Borthwick is a man of character in an age that prefers to reward personality. Try as he might to explain England’s latest collapse, to reassure supporters that a corner will be turned, he failed to grasp the gravity of a seventh defeat in nine games in a manner that is now his side’s trademark. It was left to his predecessor-turned-pundit, Eddie Jones, to sum up England’s plight far more adroitly and in only four words when asked how he would have reacted if he were in Borthwick’s position: “I’m glad I’m not.”

It is a measure of Borthwick’s character that he chose not to turn on the referee, Ben O’Keeffe, for some questionable decisions against his team during the period in which Ireland scored 22 unanswered points. Borthwick pointed instead to his side’s indiscipline as they let a 10-5 half‑time lead slip through their fingers. “That’s something that needs to be improved this week,” was about as close as he came to chastising his players for capitulating.

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James Lowe stood out in a superb Irish backline while for England the Curry twins shone but the backs struggled

Hugo Keenan Exceptional covering tackle on Tommy Freeman in the first half, and joined in the attack with intelligent support lines as usual. 8

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Ireland dominated the second half to win in Dublin

4 mins. Marcus Smith finds a bit of space in the Ireland half before he’s hauled down and the phases start. He then drives a low cross-kick towards Tom Curry on the wing but it’s too long and into touch.

Mack Hansen has picked up an early injury and is replaced by Robbie Henshaw.

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• Tadhg Beirne moves into second row to partner James Ryan
• Leinster playmaker Sam Prendergast keeps hold of No 10 shirt

The Ireland lock Joe McCarthy will miss Saturday’s Six Nations opener against England due to injury. The interim head coach, Simon Easterby, has moved Tadhg Beirne into the second row to replace McCarthy, with Ryan Baird given a rare international start after being named at blindside flanker.

The Leinster fly-half Sam Prendergast is again preferred to Munster’s Jack Crowley, having worn the No 10 jersey for his country’s final two autumn fixtures, victories over Fiji and Australia.

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Harlequins duo are firm friends and can boost the cohesion of Steve Borthwick’s side against Ireland on Saturday

The buildup to a fixture between England and Ireland has not truly begun until someone mentions the C-word, so step forward Steve Borthwick to name his side for England’s daunting Six Nations opener in Dublin two days early and officially set the hare running.

It is getting a little tired now but the narrative goes that Ireland can boast a level of “cohesion” that is the envy of the world while England are a mishmash, thrown together from nine different clubs and trying desperately to get on the same page.

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The Ireland interim coach’s deputy tag may soon be cast off if he leads his country to a historic repeat triumph

History shows it can be done. In 2013, with Warren Gatland having stepped away to prepare for that summer’s British & Irish Lions tour, Rob Howley took over as interim Wales head coach and they ended up as tournament winners. Beating England by a record 30-3 margin in Cardiff will forever rank among the great Welsh rugby days.

This time the “deputy dawg” with the interim sheriff’s badge on his tracksuit is Ireland’s Simon Easterby. Andy Farrell will not be too far away but his Lions responsibilities have left his assistant in temporary charge. Win a third successive title, in the process becoming the first nation to do so since the tournament expanded 25 years ago, and the coaching tweak will be a minor footnote. Should Ireland endure a significant dip, though, perceptions can swiftly change.

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• Scrum-half took full part in Monday’s training session
• Willis will get second cap and Smith keeps fly-half role

England have been handed a major boost for their Six Nations opener against Ireland on Saturday with Alex Mitchell passed fit to start at scrum‑half. Mitchell gave Steve Borthwick a scare after sustaining a knee injury this month but he has been deemed ready to rekindle his half-back partnership with Marcus Smith in Dublin.

Mitchell sat out England’s entire autumn campaign with a neck injury and was missed as Borthwick’s side fell to three defeats out of four. He has emerged as the head coach’s first‑choice scrum-half, however, and – having taken a full part in the session on Monday after being unable to train last week – he is poised to retake the No 9 jersey against the defending champions.

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France for the slam? Or will it be Ireland’s treble? Perhaps Scotland will finally step up – all your questions answered

Coach Steve Borthwick
Captain Maro Itoje

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• Under-pressure coach may deploy Steward on wing
• Fin Smith eyeing up No 10 role in Six Nations opener

Steve Borthwick has revealed he is giving strong consideration to shifting Marcus Smith to full-back and deploying Freddie Steward on the wing as he plots a course to England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin.

Smith has started England’s last seven Tests at fly-half and was their most eye-catching performer during a disappointing autumn in which Borthwick’s side were beaten by New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. With George Furbank injured, however, Borthwick sees merit in moving Smith to the No 15 jersey, which would pave the way for either Fin Smith or George Ford to start at fly-half.

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Damien McKenzie’s boot the difference as New Zealand ended Ireland’s Dublin run

Haka Response Watch!

Rieko Ioane leads his team in the pre-match challenge, Ireland take the traditional interlocked arms round the shoulders, standing in a line while staring approach.

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The country boy from Lacken who is now a world-class No 8 on enjoying captaincy, a fascination with psychology and his penchant for hot yoga

It will be another six months before Andy Farrell finally has to choose his British & Irish Lions captain for the 2025 expedition to Australia. Plenty of time for the landscape to change and, theoretically, for one or two surprise contenders to emerge from the shrubbery. Until, that is, you sit down with the staggeringly impressive Caelan Doris and realise there is little need for Farrell to look anywhere else.

A bold prediction? Hardly. It is not rocket science that a world-class player with the universal respect of his peers, a university degree in psychology and a warm smile might just fit the bill. Ireland have produced some illustrious Lions captains in the pro era, from Brian O’Driscoll to Paul O’Connell and Peter O’Mahony, and another top-drawer candidate lurks quietly in the wings.

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If you thought you knew the celebrated former Ireland fly-half, it’s time to look deeper – this is no leafy lane memoir

Perhaps the most tell-tale aspect of Johnny Sexton’s new autobiography is that it took seven years to stitch together. Seven years? Not since James Joyce took a similar timeframe to write Ulysses has there been such a slow-cooked Irish literary stew. And as Peter O’Reilly, Sexton’s excellent (and potentially long-suffering) ghostwriter, reveals in the final acknowledgments, there was little need for many supplementary interviews because of “Johnny’s exceptional memory for detail”. Combine those twin ingredients and a tasty dish is all but assured.

Because Johnny can remember everything and everyone. What his friends said and did, what his enemies were thinking (or, at least, what he thought they were thinking), how he felt at certain crucial moments. If it reads at times like a cold-eyed dispatch from an endless battle that is, for a good deal of his career, how it felt. “For so much of the time I was at war – with opponents, with rivals, sometimes with coaches, often with myself. For the most part … it felt like a fight.”

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