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Six Nations: Jonny May stokes the flames in Ireland-England grudge match worthy of its billing

England will look to deliver on their promise to play exciting, attacking rugby after a fortnight of firing verbal barbs at the reigning Six Nations champions

Jack de Menezes
Friday 01 February 2019 23:39 GMT
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Eddie Jones announces England Six Nations squad ahead of Ireland Game

England will look to put their money where their mouth is after spending the last two weeks firing verbal barbs Ireland’s way, with Jonny May insisting they have arrived in Dublin looking to “fire some shots” and prove the defending Guinness Six Nations champions are not unbeatable.

Ireland will open their title defence in Saturday evening knowing that just one team has beaten them on home soil since the last Rugby World Cup - and that was New Zealand, the best side in the world, more than two years ago.

But after a near-perfect autumn campaign in which the marginal match-deciding call against New Zealand cost England a 100 per cent record, this is very much a different side to the one that wilted at home against the Irish last season.

England have their big hitters back in Billy Vunipola and Manu Tuilagi, while a fresh Mako Vunipola adds to what is arguably Eddie Jones’ strongest ever pack. If the forwards can hurt Ireland in ways that England have failed to for the last two years, they have the weapons to hurt the hosts, as May highlights.

“We want to come and fire some shots,” said the England wing on the eve of the opening weekend’s headline encounter. “We know Ireland and we know their threats but it’s really a case of focusing on what we’re going to do. We’ve been practising our gameplan for 10 days and we know what we want to do. Do we want to have a go at them and score some points? Of course we do.”

If they are to do exactly that, they will need to find a way of unlocking Andy Farrell’s defence - something easier than done. Under Farrell Ireland have built one, if not the best defence in world rugby, having limited the All Blacks to just three penalties last November in one of the most resilient displays seen at test level. This is the same Farrell who was largely praised for being the brains behind the British and Irish Lions’ drawn series in New Zealand last year, and the same Farrell who will replace Joe Schmidt as Irish boss next year.

England, on the other hand, do not need to be told how big a mistake it was to let Farrell Snr go - a decision made by Jones himself when he took the reins in 2016 and permanently banished Stuart Lancaster’s backroom team. Farrell moved across the Irish Sea, quickly followed by Lancaster, where the pair have gone from strength to strength that caused the Rugby Football Union to launch a failed attempt to bring Farrell back as defence coach before John Mitchell was hired.

“I had a lot of time with Andy Farrell; he was an incredible coach for me and I learned a lot from him,” added May. “He’s done a great job with Ireland and they’re a very, very good defensive side, so we have to make sure we attack them well, attack accurately and find some space.”

That is easier said than done. Not only does Farrell have arguably the best defensive reputation in the world - with only New Zealand’s Scott McLeod realistically challenging the former England international for that title - and Ireland some of the best defensive players in the world, but they also possess one of the most intimidating stadiums in the game.

If England allow the Irish fans to get into their stride, the players will simply feed off the ferocious noise that is created inside the new walls of Landsdowne Road. The longer that they can keep ‘Fields of Athenry’ silenced, the more likely the chance of an upset.

Jonny May believes England can back up their desire to beat Ireland with attacking rugby

And that’s what an England win here would be. It is perhaps one of the lesser known records, but the red rose more often than not wilts in Dublin. Since the famous 2003 Grand Slam-winning victory, England have won just once here, and that came in a drab 12-6 victory in 2013.

Having experienced it for himself in 2015, George Kruis admits that there is something a little bit special about the Aviva.

“It’s a great stadium to play at,” said the England lock. “These are the sort of games that you realise it’s a privilege to play in them. A full house, big start to a campaign against a quality team. We all realise we’re extremely fortunate to be in this position and we’re going to get ourselves mentally switched on for the first game.”

So good are these two teams, that is exactly where the match will be won; whoever can work themselves into the optimum mental state to take their game to the very edge, yet avoid falling off, will emerge triumphant. That is how slender the gap between these two sides appears, but the time for all the talking and preparing will end and the time to walk the walk will commence in what will be the biggest challenge for both at the start of a six-week journey.

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