It took a while for Ireland to find the right frequency here but when they did, they came through louder and clearer than England could handle. The strength of the Irish bench told, as did the contrasting shortage of options outside England’s starting 15. But maybe most of all, the change in the game was a fundamental thing – Ireland cut down on the mistakes.
We’ve become so accustomed over the past few years to watching Ireland play rugby with fluency and clarity. At their best, they’re like a living Hippocratic Oath. First, they do no harm. At the peak moments of the Andy Farrell reign, they’ve made an art form out of never giving a sucker an even break.
That’s why it was unsettling to see them so tongue-tied here. Time and again in the first half – and right until the final quarter even – they turned good positions into coughed-up possession. Sometimes it was dodgy handling, other times they strayed just the wrong side of the referee’s whistle. It was like watching an F1 pit-crew attempt a tyre change with kitchen tongs.
James Lowe had a brilliant game, beating Englishmen all ends up and dishing off the killer last pass for three of Ireland’s four tries. But he also kicked the ball out on the full twice in the second half alone. He might not do that twice more between now and the end of the tournament. That’s the sort of day it was for so long.
Simon Easterby takes positives but mindful of lapses on first day as Ireland interim boss
England coach Steve Borthwick praises Ireland and pinpoints third quarter turnaround
Ireland v England as it happened: Simon Easterby’s side record bonus point victory in Six Nations opener
Once Ireland cut out the sloppy mistakes, England could not live with them
In the first half, Marcus Smith went off on a yellow card after 25 minutes. Throughout his 10 minutes in the bin, Ireland dominated possession and set up camp in the England 22. But all they had to show for it by the time Smith returned was Jamison Gibson-Park’s try, conjured up by Lowe from his own half. It was probably the least promising position Ireland had in the whole period.
But they made a mess of all the other ones, with a series of escalating, thoroughly un-Ireland mistakes. One assault on the England line was whistled up for a crossing penalty on James Ryan. In the next breath, Mack Hansen got done for holding on under pressure from Ben Curry. Bundee Aki dished off a forward pass, Hugo Keenan knocked on. This was all in the space of about seven minutes.
Mistakes happen, of course. And England get paid to come to work too. For all that they eventually burned themselves out here, Steve Borthwick’s side came to the Aviva with a commendable appetite for destruction. The Currys were a menace the whole way through. Maro Itoje was all up in everybody’s grill. If Ireland made mistakes, England forced plenty of them too.
In the end, the needle hit the groove and Ireland were able to cut out the static. Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan barely put a foot wrong when they came on and Jack Crowley was generally mistake-free too. Once Ireland cut out the sloppiness, they put clear water between them and England.
A good sign for the rest of the tournament. But a warning too.
