The Martin Corry column

Planet Rugby's exclusive column from former England captain Martin Corry, brought to you by Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge the Video Game

The fourth edition of Planet Rugby's exclusive column from former England captain and World Cup-winner Martin Corry, brought to you by Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge the Video Game.

Sunday's delayed encounter in Paris produced a thrilling game, where Ireland made France sweat through physicality and pressure. In truth, France will rue a number of defensive errors that gave Ireland the chance for easy, early points. From that moment les Bleus were always chasing the game.

Ireland to a large degree can thank their blitz defence for a lot of that applied pressure. They use their 13 as a 'shooter', to rush up out of the line and pressure the 13 channel, with the openside wing fanning around to cut out the long passes. Brian O'Discoll traditionally leads this approach, and in his absence, the other Irish backs stepped up to the plate, hurrying Aurélien Rougerie and the French outside backs into some poor decision making. Towards the end, the French threequarters, and Julien Malzieu in particular, were looking for opportunities that simply did not exist, such was the pressure applied.

Ireland's physicality, and their ability to hold the carrier up off the floor was also a key feature of the game. Ireland's back five in the pack are big, intimidating units who know each others' games pretty well and they work together as a strong unit. Cian Healy too is making big strides in international rugby and held up well against the form tighthead of the championship, Nicholas Mas.

On the other hand, France, despite towering performances from both locks, will be disappointed in how they allowed themselves to be pressured, and the lack of variety they employed to counter the Irish power. They will be going into the England game with only six days rest and that may be a telling factor for them.

England, with that week's break advantage, need to show further improvement if they are to consider this tournament a success. Against Wales, I believe (I choose my words carefully) that they were marginally the better side on the day, and showed improvement from the Rome and Murrayfield performances, but were unable to scrape the result. They need to turn a promising performance into a win, and that's the simple truth of the matter.

The French game will be an acid test for Stuart Lancaster and his troops, and England need to tighten up their attacking intent and become far more ruthless in execution. Interestingly, when he took the role on, Lancaster underlined that England tend to play better with a ball-player at inside centre. However, Owen Farrell and Brad Barritt's performances against Wales may cause a re-think of this strategy and I hope Lancaster accepts that, on form, the midfield that started against Wales should be persisted with against the big French backs. The terms of Lancaster's tenure do not allow him the luxury of experimentation; if he's to retain his post he needs results, and I believe that the Farrell/Barritt/Tuilagi combination would give him the best chance of doing that.

We have talked already at length regarding France, and I know it's a clich̩, but it really depends on which French team turns up on the day, although I do expect Louis Picamoles to replace the infuriatingly inconsistent Imanol Harinordoquy at 8. (Philippe Saint-Andr̩ has chosen an unchanged pack, much to the surprise of the French press РEd.)

Elsewhere, Italy travel to the Millennium Stadium to face a rampant Welsh team full of confidence, and unless they start playing with a bit of attacking intent and show a desire to use the skills they possess, I fear it'll be another defeat for the Azzurri. Italy still make it hard for teams to play rugby against them, but have little themselves in terms of penetration. Wales need to show utter ruthlessness in this game, and demonstrate the continued passion that has been a hallmark of their game. Should they manage to do this, I think it will be a very comfortable win for the men in red.

Ireland v Scotland has the history of producing expansive games, and I have to say I admire the way the Scots are attempting to play, even if the scoreboard is not always on their side. Again, I'd single out Dave Denton and Ross Rennie as outstanding, but perhaps they need to rein it in a little and be more circumspect in their approach, and keep the points rolling on the scoreboard. Ireland's quick turnaround after a physical game in Paris may leave them slightly leg-weary and Scotland need to exploit this and come out firing and ready in the first ten minutes. However, in the final analysis, I don't think the Scottish team will cope with the power of the Irish and their fanatical support.

In closing, it would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to my old pal, former Tiger and former England skipper Lewis Moody. A lot has been said about the 'maddest of dogs' over the last 24 hours, but I will add this: whenever I sat down to discuss team selection, as a Tiger or as England captain, I always wanted players who offered something 'special'. Moodos always did exactly that; the energy and commitment he brought to the team was first class and utterly infectious, and to say he was fearless is an understatement. In rugby terms, he was like a Spaniel chasing a Frisbee down the fast lane of the M1, such was his disregard for personal safety! He had a great attitude and I am afraid his body has paid the price and finally said 'no more.' You always need players like Lewis around and it was a delight to play with him in whatever colours we were wearing.

Until next week,

Cozza.

Martin Corry won 64 caps for England – 16 as captain – and was part of the 2003 World Cup-winning side. He also went on two British and Irish Lions tours, earning 7 caps. The former Leicester loose forward was voted the Premiership Player of the Year in 2005 and won five English and two European championship titles with Tigers.

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