Another week, another shoulder to the head for English rugby’s increasingly dented reputation. If a five-try defeat to a Irish side who can play substantially better was dispiriting enough, they now face the likelihood of being without Billy Vunipola for their opening Rugby World Cup fixture with Argentina, the No 8 having received an upgraded second-half red card to heap further pressure on his beleaguered coaches.
Vunipola, as with Owen Farrell a week earlier, was initially shown a yellow card but, to no one’s surprise, his high shoulder on Andrew Porter proved to be his final act of another contest that England would prefer to forget. One day they will tighten up their discipline and keep 15 players on the field for an entire 80 minutes but, as yet, there is no immediate sign of it.
Until Kyle Sinckler forced his way over with nine minutes left, Steve Borthwick’s side also looked less than deadly with ball in hand and have now scored just five tries in their last five Tests while conceding 20 in the process. Those are not the stats of a team gathering momentum and, at this rate, the World Cup is going to yield precious little joy.
As underlined in Cardiff, the best sides are accelerating towards France. The Springboks have long had a formidable pack but they are also sharpening their cutting edge. This was not a great game by any stretch but even in third gear Ireland showed the ability to offload, find space and finish with alacrity out wide. The huge roar which greeted Keith Earls’ final-quarter try, on the winger’s 100th appearance for his country, further rammed home the disparity between the sides.
At least one of these two teams is heading to the Rugby World Cup in decent shape. England, however, now have to deal with yet another disciplinary headache. If Vunipola is banned, as seems certain, England will be without a specialist No 8 against the Pumas in Marseille on 9 September. With Farrell also set to face another tribunal this week, it could easily be that both Saracens’ totems are unavailable for a game with major pool ramifications. If so, the pair can only blame themselves.
It leaves Borthwick likely to have to entrust either Ben Earl or Tom Curry with the No 8 jersey and, potentially, continue with Courtney Lawes as captain. England’s problems, though, go beyond one or two individuals. There remains a lack of dynamism and coherence and they had no one with the spark of Ireland’s Mack Hansen to jolt them out of their torpor. George Ford tried his best, as did Maro Itoje, but the list of other positives was not particularly lengthy.
It makes the next fortnight all the more psychologically important. While the Irish are off to the Basque country to play Samoa before finalising their World Cup squad on Monday week, England will welcome Fiji to Twickenham on Saturday. Farrell, in the meantime, has his latest disciplinary date this Tuesday with Vunipola also now behind him in the queue.
When will the penny drop? England, as things stand, also appear collectively becalmed rather than energised. The past couple of years have been a mess and the consequences are increasingly clear. The decision to jettison Eddie Jones came at least a year too late and left Borthwick with little option but to do an emergency patch-up job. The results, as yet, have not been terribly pretty.
At least it was a dry and sunny day, in contrast to the wild night that preceded it. Storm Betty had swept though Dublin, uprooting suburban trees and bringing biblical-type rains. England were also keen to ruffle a few local feathers but, when opportunity knocked, it was the Irish who proved the more clinical side.
Barely eight minutes had elapsed when England were cut open with a tin opener’s efficiency, Peter O’Mahony thundering through a hole and feeding Bundee Aki, who outpaced Ben Youngs to score. Aside from an initial George Ford penalty and an always competitive lineout, England could apply very little in the way of sustained pressure.
It was just as well the Kiwi referee, Paul Williams, was in sharp-eyed mood at the breakdown, disrupting Irish rhythm in the process. Andy Farrell had spoken this week about his side “feeling a million dollars” as a consequence of their warm weather training camp in Portugal but there appeared to be a touch of inflation involved. It was no real surprise, even so, when his side added a second try a couple of minutes before half-time, Hansen’s cross-kick finding Garry Ringrose who cut back against the grain from the right touchline to score.
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In modern times the side who have led in this fixture at half-time have invariably gone on to win. The last time England successfully broke that mould was in 1996 and it required plenty of imagination to envisage anything other than a comfortable home win, even given the premature departure of Ireland’s limping hooker Dan Sheehan.
So it proved. After Vunipola’s departure the floodgates opened, with James Lowe, Hansen and Earls all getting on the scoresheet to reward their side’s perseverance. But let’s be honest. The warm-up games may have swelled the unions’ coffers but not too many hearts. When the real action gets under way next month there will be a crackle of genuine electricity that the summer series, with some exceptions, has largely lacked. And, hopefully, some real quality. For English supporters, in particular, the promised land feels as far away as ever.
