Close but not close enough.
Ireland’s grip on the Six Nations title had already been loosened by the time they arrived at Twickenham. After 80 minutes, the cup had been wrenched from their grasp.
March 12 looks to be the title decider. While Ireland and Italy will battle for their first win of the tournament, most eyes will be on London again as Wales look to end Eddie Jones’ victory streak.
Post-match, Ireland coach Joe Schmidt lamented that his side were ‘not a million miles away’. Asked to expand on that, Schmidt highlighted the one area Ireland lost the game – they were not clinical enough.
He said, “Putting the ball down [was the missing element],” Schmidt added:
“Robbie Henshaw, he’s agonising over should he have dived earlier, should he have stepped back inside because Jack Nowell was coming so fast, should he have used two hands. He felt he probably could have and he’ll look back at it and he’s young kid and he’ll learn from it.
“Josh van der Flier, I felt he was pretty unlucky, that call could have gone either way.
“And then the line break with Ultan Dillane, on the back of that we are streaming through and we just couldn’t get that ball quick. You know, that’s a fraction away from being a score.
“And I think we lost three or four lineouts in the 22, you just can’t afford to do that against a side like England because they’re not going to invite you back in and give you another shot. And even when they did allow us back in there we didn’t convert.”
Two home games are next on Ireland’s plate and Schmidt urged Ireland fans to stick with their side, as they have done in the past.
Van der Flier, Stuart McCloskey and Dillane may be joined by another new face or two for those final two rounds. Wounds were licked on Saturday night and Sunday morning. This morning is all about looking ahead.
“There’s got to be room for growth,” said Schmidt, “because if there’s not, it’s going to be a very bad habit that we don’t want to be part of.”
