England A v Ireland A: Five takeaways as ‘immense’ back-rowers give Steve Borthwick ‘food for thought’
Greg Fisilau scoring a try for England A
Following England A’s 28-12 win over Ireland A, here are Planet Rugby’s five key takeaways from an entertaining game at Ashton Gate.
The top line
In a bizarre turn of the usual events, this game had very little riding on it, but the players clearly didn’t pay attention to that as the game was intense right from the off.
After a fairly even opening 10 minutes, Ollie Hassell-Collins helped get England’s noses in front as he finished off a nicely worked strike play.
Their lead didn’t last long, though, as Shayne Bolton crossed just four minutes later in similar fashion.
The flurry of tries continued minutes later, as England skipper Jack van Poortvliet crossed after a sensational solo effort.
England’s dominance continued into the second 40 too, but the scoreboard didn’t change until the 71st minute after a wonderful score from Greg Fisilau.
Ireland hit back well when Hugh Gavin powered over from short range minutes later but, with the clock winding down, England put the cherry on top with a penalty try.
Tempered champagne
Whilst the conditions were far from ideal at Ashton Gate, there was a genuine intent from both sides to play some fast, free-flowing rugby.
Take both teams’ opening scores as the perfect example of this intent. They both just nailed a training-ground strike play to get the ball out wide and cross in the corner, and this just set a tone for the rest of the game.
England, led by current Bath attack coach Lee Blackett, consistently looked to find that extra offload out of contact and, to be fair, got some decent change out of it. The likes of Curtis Langdon, Jack Kenningham and Tom Pearson were constantly on hand to pull out a cheeky offload to then send one of the exciting backs through space.
It wasn’t just this either. The half-back combination of Jack van Poortvliet and Charlie Atkinson – former Leicester Tigers teammates – injected some nice speed throughout the attack and crucially looked to play expansive rugby and utilise the space out wide. Max Ojomoh also looked to get himself involved in the attack in different ways too, which added a nice dynamic to their overall play.
Crucially, England just looked to try out new tactics and found different ways of getting around their Irish counterparts. Be that through chip-kicks, snipes or clever strike moves, it just felt England always had something new up their sleeve.
For Ireland too, whilst they didn’t have as much possession as they would have wanted, the likes of Ciaran Frawley and Nathan Doak looked to get something going for their side.
The impact from the Irish bench was also notable, and it actually got them playing a bit more rugby as a result. Fintan Gunne injected some nice pace around the ruck, which saw Hugh Gavin and Jude Postlethwaite come into the game more too and give them some go-forward.
Accuracy did prove to be an issue for both, as you would expect with two teams just pieced together in the week, but you can’t fault the intent.
Set-piece issues
Whilst it was a fairly entertaining game, the set-piece proved to be a major issue throughout.
The lineout probably fell victim to the conditions, with the wind clearly catching the ball mid-flight, but it was still a major issue for both sides throughout the game.
Keeping on trend, the scrum was just a mess throughout, to the point where the referee was almost giving penalties just to keep the game flowing. This did eventually fix itself up at the end, notably with the replacement props introductions, but overall it was just an ugly day in the scrum.
England’s back-row marvels
One area Steve Borthwick is spoiled for choice is the back-row, but the performances of Tom Pearson, Alfie Barbeary, Greg Fisilau and particularly Jack Kenningham have certainly given him some food for thought.
Pearson and Kenningham just seemed to appear in every breakdown and made themselves a real nuisance as a result. In attack, they also played a nice part in bringing the backs into the game with some clever offloads and got some nice rumbles in to boot.
Number eights Fisilau and Barbeary showed that ballast and steel Borthwick wants. Bath man Barbeary constantly looked to get their hands on the ball and acted as that heavy carrier in the tight, and the Exeter man’s speed made him a real threat through midfield too, similar to how Ben Earl has been used in the past under Borthwick. Crucially, they both just dragged England over the gainline whenever they touched the ball, which is exactly what will get them into the senior picture.
As individuals, they just made a real impact throughout the game, but as a unit they were immense. There was a balance to them as well, which is clearly something the England boss is after as well. Plenty of food for thought.
Diamonds in the rough
As with any ‘A’ Test, there were a decent group of players who put their hands up for senior squad inclusions.
For England, Luke Green made an immediate impact upon his arrival, crucially getting two penalties out of Test-capped prop Tom O’Toole. The aforementioned back-row unit of Kenningham, Pearson, Barbeary and Fisilau were all immense. Northampton Saints lock Tom Lockett, named man of the match, was also incredibly impressive as he put in a proper workhorse performance. Ollie Hassell-Collins also continued his fine form for Leicester in this game, too.
For Ireland, Doak was seriously impressive throughout the clash, and stepped up well as that chief playmaker when needed. Gunne was a real livewire too, with his pace a real difference around the ruck, while Alex Kendellen was incredibly busy and Connacht’s Gavin looked incredibly sharp throughout his shift.
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