Ireland shipped five injuries against the Welsh. They cannot afford any more against a pumped up England.
Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald and Cian Healy all miss out on this weekend’s visit to Twickenham.
They may be the lucky ones.
Stuart Lancaster has named a full-strength team to face Ireland Twickenham on Saturday. They are bringing a wrecking ball to their final World Cup warm-up.
.@bradbarritt returns to the starting line-up for Saturday’s #QBEInternational against Ireland http://t.co/VxZx9CsOso pic.twitter.com/QaSxAyWBFy
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) September 1, 2015
It is as close to Lancaster’s favoured XV as you can get.
The England coach predicts the game will be all about forward domination – whoever wins up front wins the battle.
While that is not saying much for the talents of both backlines, Lancaster has a point.
During their Six Nations win, Ireland dominated England in the air and on the turf. England won in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by moshing the boys in green and tackling them to a standstill.
Chris Robshaw – their chief scalphunter – returns to the back row while Tom Wood and Ben Morgan are very effective in the breakdown arts. Throw in the giant Courtney Lawes and British & Irish Lion Geoff Parling into the mix and, come 80 minutes, Ireland will know they were in a match.
They will know they were in a fight.
With the World Cup squads now announced, Joe Schmidt has made his bed.
He has opted not to bring Dave Kilcoyne to the tournament, despite the fact that he can cover tighthead. To that strange end, Leinster tighthead Tadhg Furlong will now feature on the bench as he covers loosehead Jack McGrath.
Kilcoyne needs to be primed, just in case Cian Healy fails to hit his markers. Not playing for Munster this weekend demonstrates Joe Schmidt’s caution.
The same goes for Andrew Trimble – out in the cold for now but neither Fitzgerald or Earls are on that plane yet.
Half-backs
Both coaches know who their 9 and 10s will be in the big World Cup games.
Ben Youngs is a nuisance when on form, and feeding a dominant pack, while George Ford has eased into his role as goal-kicker and playmaker for a backline that has the potential to inflict severe damage, even if it doesn’t always deliver.
Schmidt will need to see more from Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton this week.
It was interesting to note that Murray – surely under instruction – only kicked the ball away five times in 104 possessions, against Wales. Ireland were not showing anything close to a full hand against the Welsh.
They may stick to the rudimentary against England so do not expect any exciting, new moves.
Sexton will be wrapping around like a good thing but Irish fans will hope he is a whole lot sharper than the rusty No.10 they witnessed at the tiller last Saturday.
Murray, Sexton, Paul O’Connell and Peter O’Mahony will need to play at least 50 minutes as they lack match sharpness.
Irish fans will hope they will not cop any more big injuries while they are seeking that fitness.
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