‘In Edinburgh and Paris, this England team shattered into pieces. All that was left was for Ireland to administer the dustbin and brush.’
That was the take of The Telegraph’s Paul Hayward as he chewed over England’s 24-15 loss to Ireland and their fifth place finish in the Six Nations.
Despite the fact that Eddie Jones had led England to championship titles in 2016 and 2017, many English rugby pundits were not convinced they were fit for a World Cup 2019 push. England were well off the pace but it is not time to write them off completely just yet. There is too much rugby talent in that country to ever definitively do that.
Ireland were lauded as worthy, Grand Slam champions and they are the European nation tipped to do great deeds at next year’s World Cup.
As for Jones and England, well, the Sunday papers make for a tough read.
We must start with the pick of the front [sporting] pages as The Sunday Times has a nice little play on Jones’ comments about “scummy” Ireland:
Sunday Times Not bad for a ‘scummy nation eh Eddie? #StPaddysDay #IREvsENG pic.twitter.com/YCr6P53xSZ
— Deirdre Heenan (@deirdreheenan) March 17, 2018
Writing for the paper, Stephen Jones notes:
“The loss is particularly embarrassing for the Australian after the controversy that last week surrounded his comments on Wales (a s***ty little place) and Ireland.
“The glorious optimism of the early stages of Jones’ tenure have long ago dissipated and long before the end at Twickenham, yesterday, in a stadium alive with Irish songs and celebration, it had been replaced by a grim realisation and even a rising panic that they appear to have fallen behind their rivals.”
In the same paper, former England captain selected eight Irish players and just one Englishman [Owen Farrell] in his team of the tournament. David Walsh, meanwhile, suggested Ireland coach Joe Schmidt should be the next Lions head coach in 2021.
Over in The Telergraph, rugby correspondent Mick Cleary – in a piece headlined ‘Ireland put on a grand show to leave England chilled to the bone’ – claimed Jones had gone from messiah to ‘the man with his finger in the dyke as water comes pouring through’.
The paper’s ratings are unforgiving, with Ben Te’o and Jonathan Joseph both getting 3/10 while three other English players rate 4/10.
Over in The Sun, Jonny Fordham’s scathing take on Saturday’s events lies beneath the headline ‘It’s a Grand Sham’. Fordham begins:
‘Ireland slammed Eddie Jones’ jibes straight back down his throat’.
It only gets worse from there, from an English perspective.
As for the Irish, they have some celebratory headlines to return home to.
