Speaking exclusively to Sportslens, former Ireland back row Alan Quinlan has given his view on the nation’s hopes of completing the Grand Slam on home soil this weekend
He has insisted English rugby is in a ‘right old mess’ and has backed Andy Farrell’s men to deliver a performance at the Aviva, but refused to rule out a rejuvenated England spoiling the party.
Question: Ireland are in a brilliant place, surely?
Alan Quinlan: “This is one of the best Irish teams if not the best Irish team that we’ve ever seen.
I like the fact that a lot of stuff has gone wrong on them. They’ve had a number of injuries during this championship and they’ve coped so it’s a sign of our mental strength that they’re comfortable with the players who step up. So, it’s all good at the moment.”
Q: Can you bottle the Andy Farrell effect? What change has been brought for the better?
AQ: “Andy Farrell spoke openly about players like nearly laughing at the craziness of what was happening at halftime but then also just saying, ‘Ok, fine let’s go for it we can do this.’
“Farrell has said that even if the bus turns up 10 minutes before the kick off on Saturday, it’s not a problem. They’re ready mentally. And I think it’s going to be hard for England to break that resilience and will and desire.
“Even if Ireland lost on Saturday, or if they had lost in Murrayfield, Andy Farrell would just shrug his shoulders and say, ‘That’s life. Let’s get on with it.’
“He’s created a mentality that it’s okay for s*** to go wrong. And if it does go wrong, we’ll just deal with it. So for me, this isn’t the crunch game that Ireland have to win to have a good World Cup. Farrell has done an amazing job with this group as have the other coaches. That mentality is so strong.”
Q: Having so many Leinster players must help with cohesion?
AQ: “They play a lot together. You can see that they’re very comfortable, knowing how each player defends how they attack, little intricate moves the behaviours the players have, they can react to each other very well. That makes a big difference.
“Do they have vulnerabilities, of course they do? They’re not the biggest most physical scientists, in world rugby, they’ve proved themselves now that they are the best team in the world. France are probably on a par with them.
“Ireland have spoiled the party a few times in England when they were going for Grand Slams so I’m sure England will be determined to come to Dublin at the weekend and return the favour.”
Q: Injuries have hit the camp but we’ve seen how Ireland now have real strength in depth to deal with things…
AQ: “There’s a lot of positions that Ireland have with nearly like-for-like replacements. One of the biggest boosts for Ireland over this campaign has been Finlay Bealham and being able to step in for Tadhg Furlong and play against Wales and France two really tough situations for him and he delivered.
“The second row situation is going to be very much tested. Henderson is, Beirne is out, Joe McCarthy the backup Leinster lock is out, Ryan Baird has stepped in and been brilliant. So they’re going to really have to go down the depth chart – of the four second rows that they picked at the start of the championship, there’s only one left and that’s James Ryan, who is playing immense again. He’s found his mojo again. And Robbie Henshaw isn’t a bad replacement for Ringrose!”
Q: There’s real quality in this Irish side, isn’t there?
AQ: “There’s a lot of excitement around the team. They just keep answering the questions and getting rid of the doubt and the possibilities of them coming unstuck. They’re a very humble group and I think Andy Farrell has just done an amazing job. There’s a brilliant mood in the camp. And I think collectively they know what they’re doing. They know what way they want to play.
“Their execution is superb, their accuracy, their work rate, their honesty, all those kinds of fundamentals that are really important. There are things that they can be better at. Their scramble defence has been brilliant but worryingly they’ve missed more than 20 tackles in the last few games. But they keep working their socks off, and I think their fitness levels are really high and, and they’re very skilful players and, you know, there.”
Q: Scotland was a real test of their character especially after losing half their pack in the first half…
AQ: “The team is full of leadership, and I think that is really coming to the fore. And none more so than against Scotland.
“There were some big moments in the game where Ireland were hanging on and most notably, that turnover from Josh van der Flier when Van de Merwe went pretty close to the Irish line. It just goes to show they don’t give up. Andrew Porter was tackling a Scottish player into touch right on half time, James Ryan had another big tackle and put Stuart Hogg into touch. So they just keep working. Mack Hanson had a couple of big turnovers in the second.
“Even when they make mistakes, they seem to have players kind of back each other up and repair the damage. I’m sure they’ll be disappointed with the try and maybe there were a little bit narrow in defence, but Scotland are rightly, a very competent side.
With everything that went wrong with the injuries and stuff, I think it was a remarkable win, really. To be playing the last 15 minutes of the game or 20 minutes of the game looking really comfortable.
“Not hanging on is a testament to where they’re at given you have a wing forward throwing the ball in, a substitute prop at hooker, Calean Doris, Iain Henderson, you’ve lost Dan Sheena and Ronan Kelleher, you’ve also no Tadgh Beirne in the pack. So effectively, that’s four guaranteed starters that are missing from their forward pack. There’s not many teams in World Rugby, if any, could cope with that.”
Q: What did winning in Scotland say about this team?
AQ: “There was a great chance for Ireland at Murrayfield to go into themselves, to be hanging on, to be beaten by Scotland by a couple of points to you know, getting pats on the back and having loads of excuses after the match. But they didn’t accept that scenario.
“They’ve had a lot of tough situations in the last 12 months. In Auckland against New Zealand in the first game, they got beaten by a big score. I sensed myself personally after the game, that they were frustrated, they were disappointed And there were certain parts of the game that they believed they could fix. And they proved that. So there’s a real good feel in the camp. And I think they’re enjoying playing for Ireland.”
Q: Your head and your heart must think Ireland will win quite easily?
AQ: “We are very cautious about getting too carried away with ourselves as Irish people! It’s a natural thing in us to sense the danger and have the glass half empty. Well I’m like that anyway! And I know it is an Irish thing to talk things down. We’ve produced big performances in the past and then came unstuck and got caught out in the World Cups. 2019 was a really disappointing year for Ireland after being in a great position in 2018 when they won the grand slam. But you can’t look beyond a pretty significant Ireland win.
“If England give Ireland time and space they will punish them even though they’ve a number of injuries. I’m not sure England will be able to cope with Ireland’s speed and tempo
What we’ve seen from England has been pretty bland; even the win in Cardiff both sides were just kicking the leather off the ball. I commentated on the game and it was a tough game to watch.”
Q: What’s your verdict on England after the France match?
AQ: “They were horrendous, weren’t they? I’ll tell you what English rugby is in a right old mess.
Steve Borthwick was the one who said England weren’t very good at anything after the Scottish game. It’s probably the truth. There’s no quick fix though. It does take time.
“It was woeful on Saturday. The biggest surprise for me was probably just the way they were outmuscled and out-worked by France.
“They need to get a game plan that suits them. And I’m not sure what they are trying to do from an attacking point of view. It’s all over the shop. They just could not hold on to the ball for long enough. The overall execution and strategy from England is baffling. I’m not sure they know what way they want to play.
“There’s so much more to attack than the first phase and second phase. It’s getting into multi-phase and I just think they look totally disjointed. One thing you probably wouldn’t associate with France, I think it’s a big change in the way they play nowadays, is the players are super fit, their work rate is immense.
“France won all the 50-50 balls, their energy to get around the park is so much quicker, speed of movement, all that kind of stuff. I just thought England were very sluggish, very blunt in their attack, and it was just badly exposed.
“There’s a lot of confrontational physical players and that English side but collectively they’re not working as a unit and from a skills point of view, I’m just very surprised. Their mentality is to slow the game down, kick a lot and try to out muscle teams. The game has just changed so much now that you have to attack and you have to have the confidence and belief and then obviously you’ve got to execute it. There’s still very skilful players, they’re still very good players, but just collectively they’re not performing. I think their back row was alarming the way they were beaten in the back row.”
Q: What’s your thoughts on Ellis Genge as captain?
AQ: “Ellis Genge who is a wonderful player, spent most of the first half complaining to the referee, even to the point that you could see in the cameras and they’re walking off the pitch Ben O’Keefe was getting frustrated and a bit worn out from the questioning and whining and whinging.
“This Saturday is a pivotal moment for Genge and also Kyle Sinckler. I do rate them. Genge is just a wonderful player but I’m not sure the captaincy situation helped him at all against France. He just needs to play his game, which is taking the ball on and running at people.”
Q: England still can’t make up their minds about fly half, what do you think?
AQ: “Owen Farrell will start because they need a strong mentality. He’s a big game player and he’s confrontational. I think they need to change their back row. They need a fetcher in there. They need a number 7. They’re playing three big players there, who are good runners with the ball or physical players if you run out at them. There‘s so much pace and tempo to the modern game, you need pace and people moving around the field.
“But really it doesn’t matter who’s playing nine and 10. I think if your forwards are not delivering, it’s very difficult. But it doesn’t matter who you have in your backline if your forwards aren’t cohesive, and getting dominance up front, which you’d always expect from an English pack. that they can, you know, go after the opposition no matter who they’re playing and be physically imposing. But they’ll get better, you know, they just need some time.”
Q: England are in a real mess, aren’t they? But with their backs against the wall could they spring a surprise?
AQ:” If England just go for it and have a bit more energy, then maybe. It’s not as if they’re lacking physical players who can get themselves over the gain line, but I just think they need more work, they need players to move quicker.
“If I was in the English dressing room this week, I’d be rubbing my hands together and say this is a real challenge. It is a challenge for them. It’s a mental challenge, a physical challenge. So much pressure on them, so much expectation. But I would expect Ireland to win the game, but in no circumstances will I allow myself to think Ireland can win this by 20 or 30 points… Ireland are not going to blow England away; that is not going to happen in my opinion.
“England could unsettle Ireland, I think that of course they can because they still are a big physical side. And I think they’ll be very disappointed with the collisions and the physical side of their game versus France and the way they were out muscled and out matched. They have got to prove they are not as bad a team as they showed against France. But based on what we’ve seen there you know Ireland will win.
“One of the problems for Ireland is a six day turnaround, the amount of work there will get done this week will be minimal, just a little bit of fine tuning. England are in a tough place and has been a tough period for them from November as well with Eddie leaving there’s a lot of uncertainty. If you put an English team on paper that performed last Saturday then there is only one winner. If I was England on Saturday, I would just throw caution to the wind and throw the ball around so I wouldn’t die wondering. At times last Saturday they’re just slowing the game down to do box kicks. And then the box kick execution is way too deep allowing France to actually catch the ball, run and pass and then your defence is under pressure. So you have to execute the kick well.”
Q: So Ireland will make history again?
AQ: “It’s hard to back against them. I don’t think there’s anybody on the planet who is going to say England are going to win on Saturday. The players still in me, it makes me very nervous about allowing you yourself to think like that. But they’re so strong mentally now with this Irish team that it would be totally against what they’ve produced in the last 12 months for them to underperform here.
“England are going to have to come and play extraordinarily well for 80 minutes because even if they score against Ireland, I’ve seen New Zealand first hand myself. When Ireland even concede a try, they just dust themselves down and they go again. They’re in a great place.
Ireland will be hard to stop if they get going. This is another big situation for this Irish team to see if they can answer and, and really hammer home the fact that they are playing the best rugby and they are the best in the world. They have found a consistency to their game, which is really impressive.”
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