Mike Tindall: Ireland victory ‘given to them’ by England
Mike Tindall: Ireland victory 'given to them' by England
World Cup winner Mike Tindall has ripped into England’s breakdown work following their catastrophic 21-42 loss to Ireland at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday.
Fresh off the back of a thumping at Murrayfield, England were hoping to bounce back with a victory over their Irish Sea neighbours, but were down and out after just half an hour in front of their disappointed home fans.
It was a major turnaround in fortunes for the visitors, who, prior to the match, were unfancied and low in form. After losing their opening Six Nations match to France and squeezing through the following game against Italy, very few gave them much of a chance at the home of English rugby.
As history will now tell us, however, there was no lack of belief within the Irish camp itself, as the scoreline reflects.
“They were desperate to win that game, and I think a few of their individuals stood up and had great games,” said Tindall on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.
That was the end of Tindall’s praise, however, as he quickly gave credit not to Ireland, but to the lack of urgency within the England ranks.
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England’s lack of urgency
“They did not have to do anything to win that game. It was all given to them by England,” shockingly claimed Tindall.
“My genuine worry isn’t about dropsies and stuff like that, because that can happen. It can become infectious. You ultimately try harder when someone else makes a mistake, and then you make a mistake, and they need to find a way of resetting.
“My worrying thing was urgency to attacking breakdowns in certain parts. The amount of times that the ball flew out the back to Mitchell, where it rolled out the back so it wasn’t controlled.
“Ireland were after it, which is fair enough from their point of view, but it was never on a plate [the ball at the breakdown].”
Frustrated with England’s inability to keep hold of the ball in the breakdown, Tindall continued: “I was watching the Wales game. The urgency of the Welsh.
“Tomas Williams, if no one was there, he’s clearing out, whereas I felt a lot of time our guys were exposed, because no one was there. The urgency to clear out wasn’t there.
“That would be my biggest concern. There were times when I’m going, ‘why is he jogging’ or ‘why has he not read that?'”
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Mitchell played just 23 minutes on Saturday before being removed from the field with an injury, but the tide failed to turn even with the arrival of Jack van Poortvliet.
England would soon ship two tries in quick minutes, before conceding the bonus-point score just after the half, when free-scoring hooker Dan Sheehan dotted over to take Ireland beyond 20 points ahead.
With the victory, Ireland leapfrogged England in the 2026 Six Nations table to mount the pressure on second-placed Scotland. France remain in first place, having comfortably won all three of their matches so far, with just Scotland and England left to play.