After two disappointing results the Irish know they need to be streetwise in the scrum at Twickenham,but Jack McGrath insists ‘it will be different this time because England actually want to scrummage properlyIt is a wonder Eddie Jones in his entertaining preamble to this Six Nations Test did not dial up a scrum sequence from Ireland’s defeat in Paris two weeks ago, and linger on that rather than Johnny Sexton. While there is clear water between the reality and Joe Schmidt’s contention that he does not dwell on that stuff – the Ireland coach parses every line uttered approximately his side – equally the key theme in the Ireland camp is to be streetwise. And the scrum demands that more than any other phase in the game.
In Paris Ireland were keen to point out post-match that the tighthead Tadhg Furlong was busy trying to stay on the right side of the law while his opposite number, and Eddy Ben Arous,was literally circumnavigating it. For the absent team it was a bit like bringing a textbook to a knife fight.
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Source: theguardian.com