England coach Stuart Lancaster refusing to give up on Six Nations title
Wednesday 4 March 2015 16:44, UK
Stuart Lancaster says England are still in the mix to win this season’s Six Nations Championship, even though their hopes rest in the hands of other teams.
The England coach understands Ireland are in pole position to make it back-to-back titles, and are the only team capable of securing the Grand Slam.
However, Lancaster knows the Irish will have to be at their best to beat Wales in Cardiff on March 14, with Warren Gatland’s side also in with a chance of lifting the trophy.
England end their campaign with back-to-back fixtures at Twickenham against Scotland and France, while Ireland face trips to Cardiff and Edinburgh to complete their schedule.
Lancaster told Sky Sports News HQ: “This time last year Ireland were in a similar position to where we are this year, having lost to us in the third game.
“But a few weeks later they had championship medals around their necks. We do rely on other results but equally we’ve got two home games left.
“You never know, because Ireland go to Wales and Wales have huge motivation because they can also win the championship if they beat Ireland. And Ireland go to Scotland as well, which is never easy.”
Looking back at last Sunday’s 19-9 defeat in Dublin, Lancaster says his analysis of the match has not changed over the past three days later: “My original assessment was that we gave them too many easy opportunities to build a score and left ourselves too much to do at the end.
“We got back in the game well had a try disallowed in the 72nd minute but ultimately it was too big a mountain to climb at 19-3 down.
“We dealt with their kicking game well and there was a lot of it, 44 kicks in open play. But there were other things such as discipline and we lost the breakdown battle a bit, which ultimately determined the game.
“And there were some key moments in the first half when we didn’t nail that lineout in the corner and on small margins games are decided. Ireland have experienced players and on the day deserved to win.”
As for the latest on injured back Mike Brown, who was hurt in a clash of heads in the previous game against Italy, Lancaster added: “There is some encouraging news.
“He has the final assessment to do on Thursday and he should be fit to return to full training on Friday.”
