The first five depths ahead of Farrell’s to-do list

Jones talked about how physically his team would be and you have to wonder if they were over-hyped in the first place. Physicality without discipline is useless, especially now that World Rugby is getting stronger and better suited to bad play.

Ireland started the match with what has now become part of their DNA. They dribbled the ball with speed and accuracy over the touchline and put James Lowe down the left flank. As Ireland dropped to the right, England second row Charlie Ewels made a complete mistake in his handling of the ball and a head collision with James Ryan resulted in the earliest red card in Six Nations history, after 82 second.

Johnny Sexton kicks in the penalty and just after he’s lining up for a switch after a brilliant attempt started deep in round 22 of Ireland and eventually led to Lowe’s encounter after some lovely cross between Dan Sheehan and Josh van der Flier at short range. .

In a frantic opening, Ireland were looking for holes and spaces everywhere and it looked like Andrew Conway had brought in Caelan Doris for another game, but that score wasn’t allowed for a hit into an earlier match of Garry Ringrose. He quickly won one penalty, one free-kick and one penalty as Lowe was isolated for the game. Another penalty resulted in a three-pointer Marcus Smith and you can see England start to stabilize.

With youthful full-backs, Saracens duo Jamie George and Maro Itoje took on the leadership role on the pitch and they began to turn it into a tit-for-tat game, winning solid shots in the box. and countless penalties.

I was worried about the pre-match scuffle but with England using Exeter winger Jack Nowell as an attacker at the time of the match, I didn’t expect it to be as painful. My gut instinct tells me the British cheat worked because there was a bit of cheating going on, with Ellis Genge at the loose end seemingly stepping out and around Furlong then dragging both George and Sinkler (before he was replaced by Will Stuart) into that space so the referee assumed that Ireland was trying a whip wheel on Cian Healy’s side.

The last time the Irishman had a lot of trouble at Twickenham was the day Tom Court had to enter the court in a tight state when you were only allowed to have a seat on the bench.

Scrum coach John Fogarty could have solved the problem in the first half but the first scuffle of the second resulted in another penalty for England and it was practically difficult to change the impression of the referee mid-match.

It’s hard to describe how much energy you have in front when you had England’s dominance yesterday. You are so often in your head that you begin to act like individuals trying to find a solution, when in reality only action with a clear plan can turn the situation around.

We had prop depth issues on both sides and it was important to take into account that our locks lacked real bulk. Interesting to see Gavin Coombes play the last 20 minutes of Munster’s match with the Dragons in the second row – could that be a permanent solution?

Fortunately, only teams like France, England and the Springboks are set to reveal this lack of depth but trying to find more options will be Andy Farrell and David Nucifora’s next priority. Without a scrum background, players tend to panic in other areas and I feel it led to some 50-50 passes that we threw to try to kill England in a way. fast. It led to unwarranted and sporadic errors, like two fouls in the box after we took the corner, which saved England from losing in the 57th minute.

An unnecessary penalty from Iain Henderson for hand in the mess earned Smith his third penalty after half-time.

Incredibly, the team that lost in the first half has never won this match. Ireland will talk about how to fix the problem, regain composure and move on and get bonus points. As the second half began, however, thoughts turned from bonus points to just winning. And at 15-15, the result is equal.

He showed great bravery yesterday, playing extremely hard and making Ireland work every point. Eddie Jones is going to build on this and when you think England have a brand new backline compared to the backline they played in the same game last year, they’re really rebuilding.

Ireland will learn a lot from the difficulties we face and that will be good for us in the long run. Priority will be the depth before the year. That’s the engine of any team. Being able to get set-piece dominance or at worst parity is crucial as you go up the ladder.