Defence coach says ill-fated moment was made in coaches’ box and relayed from sidelines
Simon Easterby has confirmed that the decision to opt for a clearance to touch by Conor Murray from an Irish lineout with less than two minutes remaining in the penultimate play of last Saturday’s defeat at Twickenham was made in the coaches’ box and relayed from the sidelines.matches — was too passive and reactive against the sharper English attack. Ireland conceded three tries to two, as well as eight line breaks to two, while missing 25 tackles in Saturday’s 23-22 defeat.
Alternatively, Murray or James Lowe could have kicked long or found touch. Easterby confirmed that the call for Murray to find touch had come from the coaches. Noting that the inexperienced 23-year-old English replacement hooker Theo Dan had not been on long, Easterby said: “The context is, we back our lineout D to go after them, we back out defence to stop them getting to where they got to.”
Easterby or Andy Farrell have been running Ireland’s defence since 2016, and in that time it’s hard to think of Ireland’s kick-chase system being so easily and swiftly outflanked as England did — not once, but twice. While repeatedly giving crediting England’s performance, Easterby said: “We didn’t play anywhere near our best, certainly without the ball. We were off it and it came down to the last minute. We can pick holes in lots of things and we do that when we’ve won as well. So, it’s important that we stay true to what we believe and focus on Scotland.”
There’s also a desire to retain faith in this team after just a second defeat in 22 Tests, an example being Peter O’Mahony.
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