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The Irishman Christian Wade wants England to target
By Peter Thompson
Christian Wade has urged England to "get stuck into" Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton if they are to have any chance of winning their Six Nations opener in Dublin on Saturday.
Ireland have won 12 consecutive home matches and are favourites to extend that run when they start the defence of their title at the Aviva Stadium.
Joe Schmidt's side have taken on all comers, beating world champions New Zealand in November following a Grand Slam and a long-awaited series win in Australia last year.
Wade, who won one England cap before moving away from rugby last October to join the NFL's International Player Pathway Program, says Eddie Jones' men must target World Rugby Player of the Year Sexton and boss the breakdown if they are to come out on top.
The former Wasps wing told Omnisport: "The Irish were killing it last year and they have been doing well since.
"I think, from knowing the Irish, they [England] are going to have to control the breakdown, not let them get stuck into them.
"They have to move them around and I think their kicking game is going to have to be on point, because Sexton has got a hell of a boot on him and he knows how to find his players.
"If you get stuck into Sexton, control the breakdown, play fast and turn their defence around I think that will be the key."
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Larry Brown was 63 when he won the NBA, and Phil Jackson was 64.
I guess my general feeling in rugby is that most coaches seem to decline quite a bit when they hit 60, and to be coaching at the top level when you’re 65 or older is extremely rare. Maybe in american sports people have another 5 years, but that doesn’t seem like a massive difference.
Either way, I’m going to stick with my verdict that appointing Les Kiss at age 60 would be ok as a short term deal - but appointing him at 63 and expecting him to last 4 years would be foolish.
Go to commentsWe come off a loss and a big one to Moana Pasifika and 2 years in a row losing to the Drua. The motivation to reverse that is huge. This competition has been unpredictable. I believe the return of inform players like Antonio Shalfoon , Christian Lio-Willie will make a huge difference.Tom Christie, who played so well in his 2 starts and Corrie Kellow will be raring to go. We missed David Havili, the form second five and captain last week, he thankfully will be back soon. But Codie Taylor is a great choice to captain in the mean time in David’s absence.
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