Steve Borthwick begins Six Nations mind games with Ireland as referee warned over hosts’ potential ‘illegalities’
England head coach Steve Borthwick and referee Ben O'Keeffe, who will take charge of their Six Nations clash with Ireland.
England head coach Steve Borthwick has suggested that Ireland can stray beyond the line of legality at the breakdown and hopes that it is picked up by this weekend’s referee.
The Red Rose begin their Six Nations campaign at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin against the defending champions from the past two seasons.
It is a brutal start and one which will get even tougher should they get on the wrong side of the man in the middle.
New Zealander in charge
Borthwick has duly looked to potentially influence Ben O’Keeffe – the New Zealand referee who will take charge of the match – and Ireland themselves.
“I think you saw Ireland’s attack on the opposition breakdown – you see the same thing with Leinster,” Borthwick told reporters. “What’ll be interesting is how that is officiated.
“World Rugby talked last week about some factors of how they want that officiated and making sure it’s legal and within the laws. That’s going to be an important area for our referee on the day.”
O’Keeffe prepared for the encounter by refereeing the Premiership clash between Gloucester and Leicester Tigers on Saturday.
It was a decision Leicester boss Michael Cheika criticised after his side succumbed to a 38-31 defeat, claiming he “didn’t like it from the start”.
Cheika specifically took issue with O’Keeffe’s breakdown interpretations and Borthwick will hope that he is not having the same complaints after Saturday’s clash.
Ireland are a well-drilled and experienced unit who have often been exceptional in their ability to dominate the contact area.
Although they have had a slight disruption on the coaching front with Simon Easterby taking over on an interim basis while Andy Farrell focuses on British and Irish Lions matters, England’s boss doesn’t foresee that being an issue.
Borthwick does not believe that it will impact the hosts and once again reiterated his point about discipline being the defining area of the contest.
‘Very, very dangerous’
“The coaching team’s been together so long and they’ve worked together for such a long period, I don’t sense that would be a great factor. In a sense I think there’ll be a lot of consistency,” he said.
“I think when you’re picking so many players from one team as well….is it 23 of the 36 from Leinster? They know each other and understand each other.
“When they play their phase attack, when they bring that multi-phase attack they can bring, they’re very, very dangerous.
“They can play phase upon phase and it becomes a test of concentration, there’s a test of discipline and they’re looking for some opportunities, and some lapse in concentration from the defender and then they’ll get you – it’s four, five phases, six, eight, 10 phases.
“You’ve got to keep concentrated on it with discipline, I think that’s the crux of this battle.”
Borthwick, who is usually renowned for playing a straight bat, also questioned the type of game plan that Ireland could employ.
The England head coach claimed that the Irish have veered between two styles and picked the one which he thought suited them best.
“They’ve really started kicking many more contestable kicks and I’d be interested whether they’re going to do that – whether they’re going to bring a contestable game or are they going to play their phase game – because I think it’s the phase game that’s the real threat. When they play that they are arguably the best in the world,” he added.
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