England looking for another scrappy victory over Irish
Martin Johnson says he doesn’t care if his England side win ugly just as long as they win, and in spite of the criticism following their unconvincing win in their last outing against Italy, the home fans at Twickenham will surely accept another poor performance as long as it comes with a similar outcome.
Despite criticism of their attack England’s defensive line has only been broken four times in their last two games and it is this defence that contributes to them starting this match as slight favourites (evens with Boylesports) while Ireland (21/20 BlueSquare) will hope to recover from their nightmare showing in Paris and get their title challenge back on winning ways.
With many pundits suggesting a tight game the omission of Ireland’s record point scorer Ronan O’Gara may come as a surprise but the selection of the seemingly more attacking Jonathan Sexton (28/1 to score the first try with Ladbrokes) may suggest that the visitors may try to be more ambitious in attack than their hosts. The Leinster fly half probably sealed his call up with his display last week against the Scarlets when he finished with 22 points including a try.
Sexton’s opposite number, Johnny Wilkinson, seemed to have left his kicking boots at home as he missed two kicks at goal in the victory over Italy and is 15/8 with BlueSquare to miss another pair against Ireland. Wilko can also be backed at 3/1 (also with BlueSquare) to have found his boots this week and not miss a kick.
It may be worth looking towards the packs for the first try scorer given that neither side will be likely throw caution to the wind too early. Flanker James Haskell jointly leads the tournament try scoring charts and is 28/1 with Sporting Bet to edge into the lead on his own by scoring first. . Although the romantics among you may fancy the 80/1 on offer with PaddyPower for prop John Hayes to open the scoring with only his 3rd international try on his 100th appearance for Ireland.
The outcome of this game could well depend on how Ireland react to their defeat against France, and the fact that they are without the suspended Jerry Flannery and injured Rob Kearney will not help their prospects. After two wins from two, England will be hopeful that they can grind out another win. Martin Johnson will be ecstatic if his side can sneak it by the narrowest of margins. England to win by 1-5 points is 5/1 (totesport), and even if the performance is worse than the one in Rome the critics may just overlook it for the time being.