The Grand Slam winner says lingering frustration from World Cup defeat against Wales can drive on Eddie Jones' men in Six Nations decider
England were far from outstanding on Saturday but they produced another controlled performance against an Ireland team who probably played better than they had done all tournament.
A lot has been made of the fact that they had two men sin-binned during the second half which is obviously not ideal, but I don’t see that as a major issue in such a one-off game.
It is so easy now to get a yellow card in modern rugby.
James Haskell suffered for the fact that it was a 50-50 tackle – and when you don’t fully commit to one of those by half pulling it makes it look much worse than it actually is.
As for Danny Care’s yellow card, in years gone by that would never have been a penalty.
His being there didn’t make all that much of a difference, he eventually gets out of the way and it wasn’t even like they were definitely going to score.
There are times when your defence is breached and you take one for the team knowing full well what you have got coming, but nowadays it only has to look slightly messy and you are trotting off for 10 minutes.
That is the difficulty of refereeing nowadays – you will always have people like me saying it is harsh but at least it is being done for the right reason.
Backs to the wall
It is so much easier to defend than attack nowadays and if everything becomes slow then it is almost impossible to break a team down.
We all want to see fast-paced games and by clamping down on any sort of cynical play then it gives attacks a chance and lifts the excitement level.
Having said that, England will take heart from how they wrapped the game up despite being a man down.
Teams are getting better and better at learning how to defend with 14, so in those desperate situations it is perhaps always worth taking a risk.
You can practice having a man less in training and when to alter your defensive mindset to combat certain situations – either by pressing less to cover the space or pressing more to ensure they can’t beat you on the outside with hands.
Blunting the battering rams
England look very comfortable in everything that they are doing on that side of the ball and have now conceded just one try in three matches which is some going.
They contained Ireland’s new pairing of two direct and physical centres in Luke McCloskey and Robbie Henshaw very well and that bodes well for the unique challenge that is still to come in the shape of Jamie Roberts.
People talk about the fact that Owen Farrell will be targeted since he is naturally a fly-half playing in midfield but he will be absolutely fine. He is ultra-competitive and ultra-professional.
Standing up there and making tackles is simply part of his job that he has always done and not an element of his game that he has ever shirked.
In some ways knowing that you are going to be in the firing line like that is easy because you know exactly what is coming. It is just a case of going through your processes during the week and dealing with the fact that you will have to man up when your time comes.
Mind games
Eddie Jones has already said that he will be putting himself under a self-imposed media ban in the build up to the game against Wales in a fortnight’s time.
This is something that we have seen Warren Gatland do in the past before games against England and I think it is the right decision.
Clive Woodward was astute with the press but he would never rile the opposition – he never wanted to give them an excuse for their team talk.
I always preferred to keep everything low-key and to just get on, train, turn up and play your game. You don’t want to create headlines if you can avoid it.
Jones clearly likes to throw out curveballs whenever he can but with a game as big as this I don’t think it’s a bad thing to just let your rugby do the talking.
It is the title decider and doesn’t need any more fuelling.
The defences are the strongest suit of both sides so it is going to be very tight. Whoever holds their nerve the best will come away with the win.
Wales will take confidence from that recent win at Twickenham in the World Cup but the reality is that England had that game in the bag and threw it away.
The majority of their players figured in that game and will be looking to set the record straight.
England know that they owe the nation one – and that might just prove the difference.
READ: Mike Tindall: England’s fresh start now hinges on banishing unhappy Twickenham memories
