England fly-half George Ford has stated that the team will use their loss to Ireland two years’ ago as motivation for this weekend’s Six Nations game with the boys in green.
Ford and co are set to host Ireland on Sunday and are looking to stop their rivals making it three wins from three in the competition and halt their Grand Slam dreams.
The hosts were on the losing side two years’ ago as Ireland ran out 24-15 winners in Twickenham on the final day of that season’s competition to secure a Grand Slam crown.
Despite beating Ireland comfortably since then Ford admits that the squad still remember that loss and believes they can use that pain to help them this weekend.
“We remember two years ago. We never like losing matches, particularly at home. Maybe in Test week we’ll dive into a few things to get us right emotionally. It’s a balance. You don’t want to look too far in the past but if it’s something you can use to get yourself to a higher level then you use it. This week we’ll work out what are the two or three critical things that we need to do to make sure we’re ready for this game,” he said.
England head into the match with one win in two having lost to France on the opening weekend before overcoming Scotland in a scrappy affair a week later.
However, it is a different story this time around as Ireland have former England coach Andy Farrell as their head coach along with another former England coach Mike Catt also in the backroom staff and Ford thinks that they will be prepared well for their Twickenham return.
“We understand that Ireland are a very good team, very well-coached, and have started the Six Nations very well, so we have huge respect for them. With Andy being primarily a defence coach, we understand they are going to be hard to break down from an attack point of view. They will be looking to bring some line speed and something a bit different against us. They are probably trying to develop their attack in terms of phase play stuff. They have got Mike Catt there as well and he thinks about the game from a very attacking point of view. The stuff Ireland are notoriously good at is the contact area, the kicking game, in the air and the contest at the breakdown. It is something they are very good at and why would you go away from it if you are very good at it?” he added.
Ireland head into the game as one of two teams to remain on course for a Grand Slam along with France, but they know how tough it will be as England prepare to play their first match on home soil since their run to the Rugby World Cup final last year.
Ford looks set to be given the nod at fly-half once more with Owen Farrell continuing in the centre and if they can channel the sort of performance that they put up against New Zealand last year they may well end Ireland’s hopes of not only a Grand Slam but a triple crown.
