Six Nations: Ireland 27 England 22
The Simon Easterby interim reign is up and running in hugely encouraging style. A little rattled by the ferocity of England’s start and trailing 10-5 at the break despite a barrage of attacks, Ireland’s belief in their high-tempo, running game never wavered and some of their rugby in the second period was arguably their best since the World Cup.
With it came an opening bonus-point win and a statement of intent by the back-to-back champions who are seeking to go where no side has gone before by winning three outright titles in a row. The home supporters headed into the night with heady thoughts of what might now be achieved. It’s only one game, but Ireland have momentum now.
This was a hugely encouraging start for Easterby, and a good day for Paul O’Connell, Andrew Goodman and a relatively new leadership group. It helped that many of the problem areas of last November were resolved, uppermost among these being a return of 23 from 23 lineouts as the selection of Ryan Baird was handsomely vindicated.
They were also the more disciplined side, conceding eight penalties to 11, with England also full value for their yellow card. And although there were was still some imprecise handling in the face of some ferocious English defending, Ireland kept passing and probing and running, eventually earning their rewards with the variety of their attacking game, not least when picking their moments to go wide.
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Once Ireland cut out the sloppy mistakes, England could not live with them
Huge performances abounded, not least Andrew Porter and Caelan Doris in the trenches, Jamison Gibson-Park was at his brilliant, snappy, inventive best, while Bundee Aki and especially James Lowe, who had three try assists provided X-factor.
So too did Sam Prendergast, who may have had an unsure start but again passed another test with the bravery and quality of his running and passing game. But not the least encouraging aspect of this win was the thunderous impact of the bench, all of them really, but especially the Jacks, Conan and Crowley, and Dan Sheehan. He’s world-class all right.
From the moment Freddie Steward reclaimed Marcus Smith’s short, hanging kick-off, England threw down the gauntlet and declared their intentions. As expected they pushed up hard and brought huge physicality to their defence through Maro Itoje, George Martin and the trio of opensides, targeting the Irish breakdown and then persistently putting boot to ball; mostly with up-and-unders for Steward to chase but also crosskicks and, most tellingly, a grubber.
Ireland looked a little rattled by England’s sheer intensity. Prendergast wasn’t timing his kicks with his usual assuredness and Mack Hansen was off the pitch for over 10 minutes after a thumping follow up hit on Cadan Murley.
The breakthrough originated in Prendergast’s long kick straight to Marcus Smith, and as in Twickenham last year, England showed a willingness to counter, which swiftly had the Irish defence looking short on numbers.
Ollie Lawrence made a big carry through the middle and two recycles later Smith went blind to Henry Slade, whose perfectly weighted grubber nutmegged Hugo Keenan for Murley to gather and score. Smith landed a fine conversion as well.
Helped by Ben Earl dropping the restart, Ireland responded strongly, eschewing shots at goal to repeatedly go to the corner or take tap penalties after Lowe latched on to a grubber by Robbie Henshaw – a temporary replacement for Hansen – but missed Gibson-Park with a pass inside when playing with an advantage.
Disconcertingly for the home crowd, England also defended aggressively and effectively, though they flirted dangerously with the offside line. With England on a yellow-card warning, Rónan Kelleher tapped a penalty and fed Porter, the ball then coming loose for the hooker to plunge over the line untouched.
But the try was ruled out, correctly, after recourse to the video replay which revealed Tadhg Beirne holding Itoje by the leg at the back of a ruck.
With England reprieved, Steward beat Keenan in the air to a Smith crosskick before Beirne won a penalty in the jackal and Ireland banged at the visiting defence and line some more.
Prendergast was growing into the game with his probing from outhalf. Aki linked with the outhalf who put Hansen through a gap and Baird powered through tackles on the touchline. This led to Smith being binned for offside.
Still England kept their line intact, James Ryan ‘crossing’ in front of Porter’s carry to concede a penalty. Prendergast hit Hansen on the edge, but Tom Curry won another relieving penalty in this Day of the Jackal.
Aki and Prendergast linked again for Keenan to make inroads and Josh van der Flier could perhaps have straightened clear when put into space by Prendergast before another Irish maul was repelled. Ireland conjured something out of the blue from halfway when Ringrose floated a long pass to Lowe on the touchline to give him a one-on-one with Alex Mitchell.
Lowe maximised it, ploughing through the English scrumhalf, scampered on and passed inside to Gibson-Park, running a classic inside trailer line, and he did Steward like the proverbial kipper with his footwork to score.
Prendergast missed the kickable conversion and Ireland overplayed their hand from deep and Smith ended the half with a penalty when Van der Flier was penalised. So, at half-time, England led 10-5 and although Ireland had much more of the game and played with plenty of ambition, you couldn’t say the visitors didn’t deserve it.
But whatever Easterby et al said at half-time, Ireland re-emerged with renewed purpose. The second period pivoted on a Gibson-Park box kick which Murley couldn’t deal with it; Baird making the follow-up hit and the magnificent Porter, helped by Finlay Bealham and Beirne, drove Ollie Chessum over the line to earn an attacking scrum.
England again provided stiff resistance until Prendergast brilliantly weighed up his options and hit Aki on the left touchline for a one-on-one with Smith on the edge. Aki ploughed through both Smith and Mitchell and took the tackle of Tommy Freeman for a superb finish. That’s why, more often than not, Ireland keep picking the Connacht man.
Ireland turned to their bench, beginning with Sheehan and Conan, who made big impacts, as did Crowley after Prendergast had kicked Ireland in front with a mammoth 45-metre plus penalty for Itoje’s slight nudge in the lineout – both soft and silly.
Furthermore Chandler Cunninghham-South gave away an important penalty when tackling the airborne Keenan. Off the ensuing lineout Ireland attacked up the middle where Gibson-Park used ruck ball to pick out the nearest of three runners, namely Lowe. He sped between Ellis Genge and Cunningham-South and had Beirne for the run-in.
After Conan made a big gallop off Sheehan’s tip-on, the replacement hooker then hit Lowe on the left touchline to use his power to break up the left again, and Sheehan was in support for a superb finish to ensure the bonus point.
The crowd had been encouraged to sing The Fields of Athenry just before kick-off. Now they didn’t need any prompting. It fairly bellowed around the Aviva.
But Ollie Lawrence cleverly created space for Murley to put Tom Curry over for England’s second try and in the game’s last play Theo Dan set up Freeman for a softly conceded try which took a little of the gloss off the win, not least as it earned England a losing bonus point.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 8 mins: Murley try, M Smith con, 0-7; 35: Gibson-Park try, 5-7; 40: M Smith pen, 5-10. Half-time 10-5; 52: Aki try, 10-10; 56: Prendergast pen, 13-10; 64: Beirne try, Crowley con, 20-10; 72: Sheehan try, Crowley con 27-10; 76: T Curry try, 27-15; 80+2: Freeman try, M Smith con, 27-22.
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Mack Hansen (Connacht), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Sam Prendergast (Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht); James Ryan (Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Munster); Ryan Baird (Leinster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster, capt).
Replacements: Robbie Henshaw (Leinster) for Hansen (3-16 mins) and for Aki (58); Dan Sheehan (Leinster) for Kelleher (49); Jack Conan (Leinster) for Baird (49); Jack Crowley (Munster) for Prendegast, Thomas Clarkson (Leinster) for Bealham (both 59); Iain Henderson (Ulster) for Ryan (61); Cian Healy (Leinster) for Porter (73); Conor Murray (Munster) for Gibson-Park (74).
ENGLAND: Freddie Steward (Leicester); Tommy Freeman (Northampton), Ollie Lawrence (Bath), Henry Slade (Exeter), Cadan Murley (Harlequins); Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Alex Mitchell (Northampton); Ellis Genge (Bristol), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Will Stuart (Bath); Maro Itoje (Saracens, capt), George Martin (Leicester); Tom Curry (Sale), Ben Curry (Sale), Ben Earl (Saracens).
Replacements: Joe Heyes (Leicester) for Stuart (37-41; 50-60 & 70 mins); Theo Dan (Saracens) for Cowan-Dickie, Tom Willis (Saracens) for Earl (both 55); Ollie Chessum (Leicester) for Martin, Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins) for B Curry (both 59); Fin Smith (Northampton) for Steward, Harry Randall (Bristol) for Mitchell (both 65); Fin Baxter (Harlequins) for Genge (70).
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ).
