Updated 11.45

SIMON EASTERBY IS targeting a much-improved performance at the breakdown from his Ireland side against England at Twickenham today (KO 2.30pm, Sky Sports 1).

Led by the outstanding Justin Tipuric, Wales caused havoc at the ruck and stymied any quick ball for Joe Schmidt’s men as the visitors ground out a 16-10 victory in Dublin last weekend.

Ahead of today’s clash against a fired-up England side on home soil, Easterby is hoping to see a far more accurate and effective display at ruck time as well as staying on the right side of referee Nigel Owens having been whistled off the pitch by Craig Joubert at the Aviva Stadium.

“The breakdown is always going to be difficult,” said Ireland’s forwards coach. “We need to make sure we stay on the right side of the law.

“Paulie’s alluded to it, we probably slipped off some of our standards in the contact area last weekend, and some of that was our discipline.

“The contact area is where you generate that type of ball you need to break good defences down, which England have. And we need to be certainly improved in that area for us to make sure we get on the front foot and get the type of ball we feel we need to break the defence down.

“So the contact area along with a number of areas will be key in making sure we stay on the right side of the law as well… that’s important.”

Sean O’Brien’s return to the starting line-up should certainly provide plenty of extra ballast at the breakdown in the early exchanges. The Leinster flanker will be making his first start in the number seven jersey during this warm-up series as the first-choice backrow combination with Peter O’Mahony and Jamie Heaslip is re-united.

“He’s had a bit-part in the first few games, he’s come off the bench,” Easterby added.
“He’s keen and you’ve got to hold him back sometimes from doing any damage to his own team-mates never mind the opposition.

“But it’s great that he’s back, there’s a pretty good competitive edge in that back-row at the moment as there is in the pack in general.

“And it’s great to have quality players coming back, and hopefully we can get as many of those players up to a good level and take that performance on into Canada.”

Ireland:

15. Simon Zebo
14. Tommy Bowe
13. Jared Payne
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. Dave Kearney
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Conor Murray

1. Jack McGrath
2. Rory Best
3. Mike Ross
4. Devin Toner
5. Paul O’Connell (captain)
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Sean O’Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16. Richardt Strauss
17. Tadhg Furlong
18. Nathan White
19. Donnacha Ryan
20. Chris Henry
21. Eoin Reddan
22. Ian Madigan
23. Darren Cave

England:

15. Mike Brown
14. Anthony Watson
13. Jonathan Joseph
12. Brad Barritt
11. Jonny May
10. George Ford
9. Ben Youngs

1. Joe Marler
2. Tom Youngs
3. Dan Cole
4. Courtney Lawes
5. Geoff Parling
6. Tom Wood
7. Chris Robshaw (captain)
8. Ben Morgan

Replacements

16. Jamie George
17. Mako Vunipola
18. Kieran Brookes
19. Joe Launchbury
20. Billy Vunipola
21. Richard Wigglesworth
22. Owen Farrell
23. Sam Burgess

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

- This post was originally published on 4 September and then updated at 11.45 on 5 September.

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