Six Nations: Ireland rediscover attacking mojo as familiar flaws haunt England

rugby-union Sunday 2 February 2025 12:48, UK

The 2025 Six Nations is off and running after an action-packed first round of fixtures. Sky Sports assesses the victories for Ireland and Scotland, and alarmingly familiar defeats for England and Wales...

For the first half of Saturday's win over England, Ireland's attack looked flustered, rushed and lacking so much in accuracy it was hard to believe this was the same side who had won the last two Six Nations championships.

The major selection talking point in Ireland heading into this one was who interim head coach Simon Easterby would select at fly-half: last year's starter in the victorious championship campaign Jack Crowley or the new kid on the block in Sam Prendergast.

November had seen Prendergast chosen by Andy Farrell to start against Australia, but Crowley emerged off the bench to play a major role in turning things around to win that Test.

In the end, Prendergast was a surprise pick to start against England and it proved the wrong call in a display really lacking in quality. Most of the occasions he received the ball he kicked possession away, kicked aimlessly and far too long - putting his own side under pressure - while he missed twice off the tee in terms of conversions - the first a particularly poor strike.

Crowley came on in the 58th minute in Dublin and Ireland immediately looked more settled and into their flow. Even England head coach Steve Borthwick commented on it at the post-match press conference. "The change at 10 was a pretty significant one. They played really well when he came on in the final part of the game," he said.

The solution here would surely appear going with Crowley from the start for next week's clash away to Scotland, but there seems more at play. Prendergast plays for Leinster at provincial level like many in the Ireland starting team and clearly the Ireland coaching staff see something they want to persist with. Huge question marks remain.

For large periods of the first half, England were quicker, slicker and more physical than Ireland in many facets of play.

Indiscipline in defence meant they surrendered the potential to build more than a 7-0 lead - Marcus Smith the man picked out for a sin-binning after a team warning - and the second half then played out with utter dominance from Ireland.

England were blown away with 22 unanswered Ireland points to fall 27-10 behind and there was no way back, despite a late push which brought a losing bonus point that may yet prove significant. You only have to look at the 2020 Six Nations when England eked out a late Round 1 losing bonus point away to a rampant France which ended up being vital in the ensuing title race.

For Borthwick on Saturday, he chose to concentrate on the difference in experience between the sides and the positive one could not discern that from the start: "If you look at today's game, you're looking at two different teams. Ireland are a team that have been together for a huge amount of time, nearly 1200 caps. England are a team that's building over the last six months and have just over half that number of caps.

"If you watch the start of that game, you don't see that difference. You see an England team that wants to play aggressively, wants to move the ball, and we took a step forward with our attack. We are disappointed, but there are elements where we've shown progress over the last 10 days in training camp."

France with a returning Antoine Dupont at Twickenham next week...England need to find a way of sustaining positive spells of play within Tests. They've now lost seven of their last nine since defeating Ireland at home in last year's championship.

"We'll need to be a lot better if we want to do anything in this tournament."

Amid jubilant full-time scenes in the stands of Murrayfield, Finn Russell didn't mince his words.

On the face of it, Scotland's Six Nations campaign had got off to the perfect start, Huw Jones' hat-trick inspiring a 31-19 victory over Italy.

But a scratch beneath the surface will have unearthed problems that a team more capable and clinical than Italy would have undoubtedly exploited.

Russell's comments were directed to both him and the collective, with the fly-half culpable in Scotland's surrender of a 19-6 half-time lead when Juan Ignacio Brex intercepted his loose pass to complete Italy's dramatic comeback with a breakaway try.

The manner in which Scotland extinguished Italy's revival, securing a bonus-point victory in the process, was to be admired, both for its precision and emphatic nature.

Few teams can hold a candle to the talent they possess out wide, but even the likes of Jones, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe may have their work cut out pulling off a similar escape act against better opposition.

The scoreline suggested a drubbing, a one-sided affair, and in many ways that was true.

A 13th successive Test defeat was inflicted in record-breaking fashion as seven-try France claimed their biggest-ever Six Nations victory over Wales.

Wales avoided equalling their heaviest defeat in the tournament, a 54-10 loss to Ireland in 2003, by a solitary point in Paris, but that was scant consolation for Warren Gatland and his team, who travel to Italy for a round-two clash that has taken on generational significance.

"For me, this game next week is the biggest in Welsh rugby for the last 15-20 years. It is a huge, huge match," former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar told ITV.

Even at this early stage of the tournament, defeat in Rome would surely leave Wales on course for successive Six Nations wooden spoons for the very first time.

And if that wasn't alarming enough, with Ireland, Scotland and England to come, identifying where Wales will bring this record losing streak to an end increases in difficulty if the Azzurri prevail.

Italy vs Wales (2.15pm)
England vs France (4.45pm)

Scotland vs Ireland (3pm)

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