Paul O'Connell: England are in a different league to Ireland
The Telegraph Rugby Podcast
The Telegraph
4.5 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2020
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
England made it two wins from two with a comfortable win over Ireland in the Autumn Nations Cup in a game which Eddie Jones had billed as his sides most important of 2020.
Joining Brian in the studio to reflect on wins for both England's men and women is Harlequins captain Rachael Burford.
Johnny May stole the headlines at Twickenham with a sensational try but it could have been avoided if Ireland were more accurate in the lineout. Former skipper Paul O'Connell joins the show to dissect what's gone wrong with the Irish set piece and expresses concern over the developing gap between the two sides since Ireland's Grand Slam win at Twickenham in 2018.
Elsewhere Wales finally stopped a run of defeats by beating Georgia 18-0. Wayne Pivac made 13 changes to his team and we speak with former Osprey's head coach Sean Holley about whether any of the new faces will feature this weekend against England and if anyone in Wales is giving them a chance against their great rivals.
England's women secured a 2-0 series win over France just days after being drawn in the same pool for the 2021 World Cup, we get Rachael's take on England's chances in New Zealand next year and also some of the stigma female rugby players face on social media.
And in a week where rugby was given £135 million by the government as part of a Covid bailout we speak to Steve Grainger, rugby development director at the RFU, about how the money will help the sport and how his role has changed in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:02.0 | Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Full contact. |
| 0:09.0 | In association with Mitsubishi Motors. |
| 0:34.8 | Eddie Jones described England's game with Ireland at the weekend as their most |
| 0:37.6 | important of the year and they, well, they certainly delivered. He controlled the game from start |
| 0:42.2 | to finish at Quickenham and they'll be looking to secure top spot in their Autumn Nations Cup group |
| 0:47.7 | with a win over Wales this weekend. As for Ireland, head coach Andy Farrell was seemed upbeat |
| 0:53.6 | despite the loss and he said afterwards |
| 0:55.2 | that his side will take priceless lessons from Saturday's defeat, insisting the Irish on track |
| 1:00.7 | to contend for the Six Nations next year. |
| 1:03.7 | Well, we'll be speaking to the former Ireland and Lions captain, Paul O'Connell, about how the |
| 1:08.8 | Irish are progressing under Farrell and what needs to be done to narrow the gap to England. |
| 1:13.5 | Well, we said last week that Wells game against Georgia was a must win and well they did just that. |
| 1:18.5 | Wayne Pivack made 13 changes to his starting 15 to collect just his third winner's head coach |
| 1:24.7 | and we'll be speaking to the former Osprey's head coach |
| 1:27.8 | Sean Holly about that win for the Welsh and whether or not given them any chance |
| 1:32.3 | over beating England this coming weekend. Emily Scarratt was the match winner for |
| 1:36.8 | England's women over France with a last gasp penalty at Twickenham. The win sees |
| 1:41.7 | England secure a two-year-series win over the French and will be reacting to yet another win for Simon Milton's side as you look back on the draw for the 2020 World Cup. |
| 1:52.0 | As ever, we'll be answering your questions and we'll be taking a closer look at some of the work being done at grassroots level during the last seven months as part of the Mitsubishi volunteer recognition program. |
| 2:02.4 | And this week, I'll be speaking to Steve Granger, the rugby development director at the RFU, |
... |
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