By Ollie Phillips
This weekend against England at Twickenham, Ireland can move within one game of the Six Nations Grand Slam.
If they achieve an unbeaten campaign in 2024 they’ll become the first team in the Six Nations era to win the Grand Slam in consecutive years.
In their way is an England side who still claim to be rebuilding despite being over a year into a new coaching era led by Steve Borthwick.
They’ve beaten Italy and Wales, the bottom two sides, before losing to Scotland in round three.
This weekend they take on the overwhelming championship favourites in Ireland. But they do have a chance.
England, under an even less developed Borthwick side in the World Cup, came within one kick of beating eventual champions South Africa.
England chances
They did so by being disciplined, getting ahead early and trying to hold on to their lead.
They were unable to do so but that’s the game plan they must adopt this time around against Ireland.
The Emerald Isle’s history in the sport is plagued by failures in important moments – for instance, their unhappy record of never winning a World Cup knockout match – and England must make sure their opponents feel that pressure this weekend.
Ireland are so overwhelmingly favourites that the pressure is almost off England.
The home side will need to dominate the ruck, strangle Ireland of possession in dangerous places and get out in front as early as possible.
England can crack Ireland, no matter how unlikely that sounds, but it is going to take the best performance of the Borthick era to do so.
It’s a shame England have been reduced to spoiling others’ parties rather than winning the title but that’s their job now: ensure St Patrick’s Day weekend is one the Irish cannot secure a Grand Slam on.
Seven heaven
Naturally Antoine Dupont’s move to Sevens from the 15s game ahead of the Olympics raised eyebrows but it has already started to pay dividends.
France won their first Sevens tournament in nearly 20 years in Los Angeles last week and Dupont was key, showing a level of pace I had not seen from him.
He is a star of the game and his inclusion in the Olympics could help rugby in a number of ways. He is the future of the game and that’s exciting.
World Cup bid for the birds
This week UK Sport revealed that it hopes to host a number of major events in the coming years, including the 2035 or 2039 Rugby World Cup.
Would Rugby should swerve England or Great Britain in the 2030s and instead go to the likes of Argentina or the Iberian peninsula – who will be long overdue hosting rights by that time.
The game will go back to Australia next before venturing into the USA so I can see why the UK may be a safe bet, but we need the sport to expand.
Former England Sevens Captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development behavioural change and executive coaching support. Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn @OlliePhillips11
