England’s win over Ireland has opened up the Guinness Six Nations according to Will Greenwood.
Heading into Round 3, Ireland and France were the only unbeaten sides, facing tough trips to Twickenham and Cardiff respectively.
Les Bleus edged home on Saturday, but Ireland could not keep pace as England overwhelmed them in a 24-12 success.
And for Greenwood, working for Guinness Gameday Live in an event at Flat Iron Square, the Championship is now perfectly poised.
He said: “You can’t write Ireland off on the back of what happened today. France are in the box seat, played three won three, the only team who can still win the Grand Slam. But they have tricky fixtures to go.
“England are just saying to themselves, if we win our last two games, things might happen. We could still pick up the Guinness Six Nations Championship.”
While it was Ireland who entered the game unbeaten, England started the better, carrying the form that had seen them win each of the last two meetings between the teams.
Ireland did not help themselves, with individual errors leading to both of England’s first-half tries as they raced into a 17-0 lead.
Greenwood said: “It was one of those days where Ireland came into it with a huge amount of optimism, played two, won two, still in the Championship and chasing the Triple Crown. The first 20 minutes, if Hollywood writes a script in terms of how not to play the first 20 minutes, they wrote it.
“There was always going to be a fightback from Ireland because they are too good and have too much pride to go down heavily in a Guinness Six Nations game.”
Ireland did indeed battle back with a Robbie Henshaw try shortly after half-time, but Luke Cowan-Dickie’s score just after the hour effectively sealed the result.
However in a Championship that could go down to the wire, Greenwood believes England may yet rue the fact they could not get a fourth try that would have earned a bonus point.
He added: “For England the disappointing thing will be that considering the amount of possession and territory they had, they will be frustrated they didn’t get the bonus point.”
