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Mon 7 Sep 2015 | 09:20
England beat Ireland in final World Cup warm-up game at Twickenam

15
Comments

England ended their Rugby World Cup 2015 warm-ups on a positive note with a 21-13 victory over Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday. Catch up on all the highlights, watch the full match and get feedback from the players, two weeks out from RWC kickoff.

Wingers Jonny May and Anthony Watson scored early as England took advantage of poor Ireland defending, to head into a 12-3 lead at the break. The hosts will take great heart from this performance at home, that also included two disallowed tries.

"When we play at home, we can be pretty good when we stick to our systems," said England captain Chris Robshaw. "We put Ireland under pressure today and it was a great dress rehearsal before the big one in two weeks' time.

"Today we did exactly what we said we wanted to do. We tried to exploit the areas where we thought there were chances and fixed up some of the problems which didn’t work as well for us last week."

After being on a high and reaching a second on the table world ranking ahead of the tournament, Ireland have now lost two successive matches to Six Nations rivals, despite them being fairly close affairs.

"We started poorly, we kept dropping the ball, and you cannot accumulate those sorts of losses and expect to do well," said skipper Paul O'Connell. "Alarm bells are not ringing but we are very disappointed. We have fallen short of a lot of things we want to do."

England coach Stuart Lancaster was pleased with his back three, particularly Jonny May.

"I thought Jonny was excellent. Not just with his aerial skills. Ireland are so smart in their kicking game but sometimes he was up and sometimes he was back. They rarely found grass in the backfield because Jonny, Anthony and Browny had done their homework.

"Jonny showed attacking intent but also physicality to score. Jonny put his hand up but he's been putting his hand up throughout this pre-season camp," he said.

Highlights wrap below, O2 Inside Line's wrap on page two, and the full match on page three

credit: rugby channel

O2 Inside Line host Ugo Monye wraps up the game. He is joined by Danny Care, Mike Brown, Anthony Watson, Ben Youngs and Jamie George in reviewing all the action.

Watch the full England vs Ireland match from Twickenham in HD 

[credit to cappers/uploaders]

Posted By: Grant Constable

15 Comments

  • danknapp
    10:00 AM 11/09/2015

    I've been following the NRL for some time, and I know how good Burgess is. It's more a question of whether or not he can adjust to union in time.

    His offloads are immense, he just needs his teammates to learn fast. If it comes together for him then he will be something very special, but we've seen that not happen before.

    I'm more than happy to wait in excitement for the world cup!

  • facepalm
    12:44 PM 09/09/2015

    Bizarre how anyone can consider Zebo to be a better rugby player than Trimble.

  • stroudos
    9:07 AM 09/09/2015

    Just going to pick up on one point - every time I've seen him play he's been looking for offloads, to the extent that he's thrown some that were clearly not on. I think offloads are a brilliant way to play and his team-mates need to get on the same wavelength so that they can properly exploit the gaps he creates.

    I'm a big fan of Slade, hope he gets more chances. I also think his partnership with Burgess in the first France game looked very promising.

  • ronan
    9:49 PM 08/09/2015

    Bowe had a complete shocker, but is normally excellent all around the park.
    But how zebo made it into a wc squad i will never know.
    consistantly useless at this level of rugby...

  • drg
    7:20 PM 08/09/2015

    But IM like I said, there are certain things May does well, but there are also certain things that he really should be good at but he isn't... (don't ask me to name them, I can't tell you, it's just whay I've seen from.him playing, he lacks something)...

    It's like a 10 that can kick drop goals from anywhere on the pitch, can kick place kicks, has fantastic vision... So give him an England 10 shirt... But don't ask him to pass the ball right... Left is no problem, but not right!!! You get a 90% great player, but that 10% is embarrassingly bad..

  • colombes
    10:33 AM 08/09/2015

    I can understand the fact Sam Burgess can slam people can be a motivation for his team-mates, certainly... but a notion of fear for his opponents, clearly not.

    But you're right on the potential spaces created by Burgess presence if welsh and aussie defences don't deal with the man. But, unfortunately i don't think these 2 sides will underate him. Furthermore, i haven't see much offloads in his game and the 2 first balls he touched vs ireland were transformed in knock-on..

    But i'm certainly biased here, as i far prefer the profile of henry slade.

  • stroudos
    10:12 AM 08/09/2015

    Dan, Burgess is the real deal mate.

    When you gain 40 metres of territory off the back of one bloke's tackle, you get to dictate the game and play on your terms.

    Not to mention the psychological boost.

    Hits like the one on Szarsewski the other week, where one of your oppo's main ball carriers is smashed 4-5 metres behind the gain line are worth their weight in gold.

    Also in that first France game - in the Rugby World analysis you shared - it was clear that he was tying in 2-3 of their defenders every time England attacked. That is going to create massive gaps for Messrs Joseph, Watson, Brown and May to exploit.

    I think I posted this link last week, so apologies for the re-post, but this little biopic is a great motivational piece in itself. Just try not to be distracted too much by Mrs Burgess, who it has to be said, (well it doesn't *have* to be said at all, but I'm afraid I am the kind of disgusting individual who can't resist), is, in my opinion, a bona fide MILF: https://youtu.be/qNVUwyFox5s

  • stroudos
    10:00 AM 08/09/2015

    Tommy Bowe's not usually that poor in defence though is he? Haven't really seen that much of the bloke to judge, but I don't remember him being bowled as comfortably as May managed to do. I think you have to give May some credit for his pace and body position going into that tackle.

    I would have agreed that the one try he scored against New Zealand was a bit of a flash in the pan, because most other times I've seen him he's been predictable in attack and unreliable in defence.

    In this game, I saw him compete very effectively in the air, make well-judged and accurately-executed tactical kicks, chase his and other people's kicks ruthlessly, putting the Irish back three in all kinds of difficulty, mix up his trademark pace with some decent power in attack, position himself well in defence and I can't remember him missing any tackles.

    Basically all the things I thought May had not proven himself able to do at this level, he achieved with flying colours on Saturday.

  • reality
    9:05 AM 08/09/2015

    Well, considering that about 4 seasons have passed between those two impressive actions, I think that phrase is quite appropriate.

    Lomu's power is unquestionable. Johnny May's is extremely questionable - in fact this is really the only example of possible power, and considering that the guy he bumped off is bigger and and stronger than him, it's more likely to be simply a bad tackle.

    I'm not saying he's terrible - I'm just saying that radically changing our opinions based on one try is a bit hasty.

  • reality
    10:51 PM 07/09/2015

    Whoa! Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. May got his try and nearly another, but that missed tackle from Bowe wasn't anything to do with May's ability or power - it was about Bowe having an absolute shocker.

    One swallow doesn't make a summer. Remember his try against New Zealand and then the performances that followed?

  • getitout
    10:36 PM 07/09/2015

    cuthbert?

  • danknapp
    10:33 PM 07/09/2015

    I'm afraid to say that I'm with you.

    Who'd have thought it, a professional international rugby coach knew more than some keyboard warriors. What's the world coming to, eh?

    I'm still unsure about Sam Burgess. Heart says he's the real deal. Head says he's going to make less impact than I hope.

  • mastersa
    10:00 PM 07/09/2015

    Jonny May took his opportunities well, but he will not meet any markers in that group that will miss 5 of 6 tackles like Tommy Bowe did on the weekend.

  • drg
    9:31 PM 07/09/2015

    I'll only have half please...

    The guy has shown what he is capable of, but I still find him lacking in many areas.

    I dislike a lot of Lancasters selections, but I reckon this could be one of those Lio-Welsh tours where I moaned about the exclusion of BOD, but the Lions (sorry, Welsh) still won it... I think England might still do quite well, but I don't think some of the selections have been as deserved as others...

  • stroudos
    3:35 PM 07/09/2015

    As someone (although to be fair I'm not alone) who has frequently slated Jonny May, not least on these esteemed pages, I suppose I need to tuck into a nice big slice of humble pie...

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