In two weeks, the rugby community will find itself rooting for England, a rare occurrence. Scotland, in particular, will be fervently hoping for an English victory. After three rounds, Ireland holds a six-point lead over the other teams, making a bonus-point win at Twickenham in round four enough to secure the title, even before they face Scotland in round five. A simple win would almost guarantee their victory.

“It’s a great setup,” stated Andy Farrell, “as we’ve worked hard to get to this point. However, playing at Twickenham is a tough challenge that everyone is aware of. We are definitely anticipating it after the upcoming break.”

It is customary to state that team X must improve for their upcoming match against team Y, but the reality is that Ireland may not need to. While their performance against Wales resulted in a 31-7 victory, they were still superior to the team who narrowly lost to England in the previous round, giving them a considerable margin for potential mistakes.

The team achieved a bonus-point win, their third consecutive one, in the final moment of the match. However, they faced a disadvantage for almost half of the second half due to two players, Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan, receiving yellow cards. Despite this, they managed to maintain a lead of at least 10 points throughout the game. This reflects their resilience and determination.

The outcome of England’s response to their loss at Murrayfield will greatly impact future events. Farrell declined to comment on the necessary actions for Ireland to defeat England. Ireland’s coach acknowledged that they faced the same team (Wales) at this match as they did at Twickenham in round two, suggesting that Wales performed better here but Ireland still managed to find a way to win.

The task at hand is not easily solved by simply stating that we need to perform better in order to win at Twickenham. While it is always our goal to play at our best, the game itself is set from the very beginning. For instance, we may have a significant lead in the number of penalties in the first half, but suddenly in the second half, the count levels out. This could happen again in two weeks’ time. The game follows its own course, but there are certainly areas in our game that require improvement. This is not an uncommon occurrence, and I’m sure England faces the same challenge.

During the initial part of the second half, while Ireland was receiving multiple penalties, Wales managed to score their sole points. This came in the form of a penalty try, achieved through a lineout and drive maneuver, and resulted in Beirne receiving a yellow card. Some may argue that Wales was fortunate to receive this penalty, as even Farrell had doubts. However, it was the closest they came to causing trouble for their opponents.

In the first half, Ireland successfully gained points from a lineout and pushed themselves forward. They then passed the ball around strategically for their second score, which was made by James Lowe. Despite a shaky start in the second half, they managed to score again in the last quarter through Ciaran Frawley and Beirne.

Is there anyone who can prevent them from succeeding? There is one certainty. England must improve in order to have a chance at coming close.

Source: theguardian.com