In the Daily Telegraph on the morning of England’s Six Nations game against Ireland, Oliver Brown asked “England are the same odds to win this weekend as Italy – how did it come to this?”
Italy then beating Scotland 31-29 at the Stadio Olimpico set the tone for the day of the underdog. Brown’s lament of “such fatalism around a game on home turf” proved to be premature as England roared to a surprise 23-22 victory over Ireland, costing Andy Farrell’s men the Grand Slam.
“England, where have you been? It’s great to have you back,” wrote the Telegraph’s Gavin Mairs in his match report. The headline said that England were “finally relevant again” and Borthwick “offered a blistering vision of the future”. What a difference a day makes.
“You have to go back to the World Cup semi-final victory over New Zealand at Yokohama in 2019 for England’s last front-foot display of this measure, and against such a side dripping with such quality, experience and winning nous.
“Given the context, this will not only be regarded as one of the great English performances but also the moment that Steve Borthwick’s tenure finally burst into life,” wrote Mairs.
Many publications focused on the “epic” game that took place in London, with Stephen Jones of The Times calling it a “magnificent match, one of the best that Twickenham has seen”.
He wrote: “Some days, rugby can frustrate the hell out of its followers – it can be boring, mechanical and partly bonkers. And on other days it can be like this. Glorious. Just the planet’s primary life diversion. Rugby or sex? On this evidence it is bloody close.”
Guillaume Dufy of L’Équipe waxed lyrical about the English performance: “They shook the Irish who were no longer used to suffering so much, Ireland came across someone stronger than them, meaner and more inspired.”
Andy Bull in the Guardian wrote about the experience in the stadium where England fans finally became believers in Borthwick’s England project: “It has been a long time since the place sounded quite so loud, but then it has been a long time since England have played quite so well.”
The BBC wrote that there were “shades of Paris” as Ireland lost their quest for back-to-back Grand Slams. Jonathan Liew in the Guardian also compared Ireland’s loss to the Rugby World Cup, where they lost in “dignified but familiar fashion”.
“While Ireland are more comfortable with the tag of favourites these days, there are certain games, and certain moments in those games, when you can still squeeze their pressure points, take them out of their comfort zone,” Liew wrote.
Liew mentioned that Peter O’Mahony had a poor game and he was among the lowest rated players in L’Équipe, the Guardian and the Telegraph. “There cannot have been many games where the Irish skipper looked so out of sorts; a mindless sinbin capping it off,” wrote the Telegraph. It came after the same paper noted O’Mahony’s “gaffe” in a prematch press conference as he mistook scrumhalf Alex Mitchell for Lee Dickson, who had not played for England since 2014. The Telegraph wrote it “inadvertently provided additional ammunition” for England and so it may have proven.
