England's Marler ready for 'clean bar brawl' against Ireland in Six Nations
England's Marler ready for 'clean bar brawl' against Ireland in Six Nations
England prop Joe Marler is bracing himself for a "clean bar brawl" against Ireland at Twickenham when both teams put their Six Nations title hopes on the line this weekend.
The side that loses on Saturday will effectively be out of contention to be crowned champions, with Grand Slam-chasing France in action away to Wales the previous day.
Defeat for England, beaten in their tournament opener by Scotland, would leave them needing to beat France in Paris the following week or risk finishing in the bottom half of the table for the second successive season.
Last year's fifth-placed finish put England coach Eddie Jones under scrutiny and a repeat outcome would leave the Australian under intense pressure 18 months from the 2023 World Cup in France.
Current-day coaches are reluctant to engage in the kind of pre-match verbal sparring that Jones relishes.
But former Ireland boss Eddie O'Sullivan has fanned the flames between the old rivals by insisting England will want to make this weekend's game a "bar room brawl" because "they are not in a good place".
The 31-year-old Marler responded to O'Sullivan's comments by saying Tuesday: "I'm trying to think of the last bar room brawl I was in. Is it going to be like that? It's probably a fair assumption.
"I quite like that. A nice clean bar brawl though, none of the dirty stuff. No gouging or glass throwing. Just the clean stuff."
Harlequins loosehead prop Marler, capped 77 times by England, added: "It's going to be tasty. They are very, very aggressive at the breakdown. Ireland love chucking numbers in there.
"Off the top of my head, you get 40-plus attempts at attacking our breakdown from Ireland. It's going to be a ding dong."
The contest between the two front rows could prove pivotal, with Ireland tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong, the British and Irish Lions' first-choice in South Africa last year, set to be an influential figure.
"Tadhg is world class," said Marler. "He has actually stepped up his game around the field, particularly in an attack and even more so this season."
Marler is known for trying to lighten the mood among his team-mates but, following England's 23-19 win over reigning champions Wales last month he said the squad were in no mood for jokes.
"Whenever I try to make a gag, sometimes I get a couple of laughs out of it, but today they (the England squad) weren't having any of it," he said.
"They were looking at me like 'shut up'. And I was like, 'right, OK. You lot are serious today'."
H.Klein--MP
