In light of the Six Nations match between England and Ireland, Oliver Brown questioned in the Daily Telegraph regarding England’s evident similarity to Italy in terms of odds of winning that weekend. This was before Italy triumphed over Scotland with a 31-29 victory at the Stadio Olimpico, indicating a day in favour of the underdogs. Brown’s criticisms of England’s perceived negativity playing on home soil seemed uncalled for when they proceeded to stun with a 23-22 win over Ireland, spoiling Andy Farrell’s perfectly crafted Grand Slam.
Gavin Mairs from the Telegraph celebrated England’s return to form in his game recap, expressing delight at the team’s reemergence. The headline stated that England had re-established their relevance and acclaimed Borthwick’s ambitious outlook for what lay ahead. All of this showed just how much can change within a day.
The narration continued that for a performance of such calibre from England, one had to look back to their triumphant World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Yokohama in 2019. Additionally, they boasted a team packed with exceptional talent, experience, and a winner’s mindset. Mairs mention that given the circumstances, this would not only be considered one of England’s most impressive performances but also mark the initiation of Steve Borthwick’s reign gaining momentum.
Several publications paid major attention to the remarkable match held in London. Stephen Jones of The Times labelled it as a splendid game, among the best witnessed at Twickenham. His description of rugby was that, while sometimes it could seem tedious, mechanical, and rather crazy, on other occasions it could be just like this match – absolutely brilliant and the best distraction in life, giving even sex a run for its money.
Guillaume Dufy of L’Équipe praised England’s performance profusely. According to him, they challenged the Irish, who were unaccustomed to such a tough match. Ireland encountered an opponent that was superior, more antagonistic, and inspired. Finally, writing for the Guardian, Andy Bull talked about the atmosphere in the stadium. He mentioned that it has been quite a while since the place buzzed with such excitement, but then again, it has been a while since England played that well. The England fan community seemed to be finally backing Borthwick’s intentions for the England team.
The Irish team’s defeat in their pursuit of consecutive Grand Slams had resemblances of their past failure in Paris, according to the BBC. The Guardian’s Jonathan Liew drew similarities between this loss and Ireland’s derailment in the Rugby World Cup, expressing how the team met its defeat in a respectable yet all too familiar manner.
Liew commented on how the Irish side has become more accustomed to being the favourite in recent years, but there are still specific matches and critical moments in those competitions where pressure can be applied to disorientate them.
He singled out Peter O’Mahony’s below-par performance, noting that he was amongst the worst-ranked players, as per L’Équipe, the Guardian and the Telegraph’s ratings. The Telegraph highlighted that it’s rare to see the Irish captain in such a disarray, with his needless sinbin serving as the peak of his poor outing.
The Telegraph had also pointed out O’Mahony’s blunder during a pre-game press conference, where he confused Alex Mitchell for Lee Dickson, a player who had been absent from the England squad since 2014. The newspaper suggested this gaffe could have inadvertently handed England an extra motivational boost, and this may well have been the case.