By Mitch Phillips
LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) – England’s rugby heritage is
built on the power of their forwards and Twickenham was in
seventh heaven on Saturday as the English scrum utterly crushed
their Irish opponents to set up a convincing 30-9 victory in
their final Six Nations match.
For all the demands for running rugby and quick ball, the
base appeal of the scrum remains at the heart of the game and
when one side takes total command, as England did in remarkable
fashion, it means there can only be one outcome.
England led 9-6 after a scrappy first half but when Ireland
lost prop Mike Ross with a rib injury just before the break the
game swung dramatically in England’s favour.
The home side had already won two scrums against the head, a
rarity in the modern game, and they immediately realised that
replacement tighthead Tom Court was the weak link.
In scrum after scrum England forced Ireland down and back
before Welsh referee Nigel Owens ran out of patience and awarded
a penalty try after 58 minutes.
From then on, at every opportunity, England opted for a
scrum and proceeded to treat their opponents as if they were a
schoolboy team.
It was all the more remarkable for this being largely the
same Irish pack, although missing the key presence of lock Paul
O’Connell, which embarrassed the Australian scrum in their World
Cup pool stage game six months ago.
At almost every engagement they went backwards, leading to
points from penalties kicked by Owen Farrell and a second try by
replacement scrumhalf Ben Youngs with a tap and go.
Continued…
