Ireland blitz bewildered England in stunning second-half performance
Ireland 27 England 22
Ireland began their Six Nations campaign under interim coach Simon Easterby with a massive bonus-point win over England in the Aviva Stadium. The 27-22 scoreline will flatter England, who were more than a match in the first half for Ireland but the revitalised home side stormed to victory once the restart got underway.
With England taking a 10-5 lead into half-time, they looked far sharper than the Irish side. Fifteen handling errors allowed far too much possession to slip away, couple that with some cheap penalties in good offensive positions and it was far from a positive opening period in Dublin.
However, some magical spells of play in the second half recovered not just the lead, but a bonus point. James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park shone as Ireland rarely let up the pressure until the dying stages of the game.
England would start the faster of the two however, as Cadan Murley burst away down the left flank, latching on to a kick to sail in for a debut try in the ninth minute. Smith’s boot then delivered the extra two points, giving the away side control of the game early on.
Ireland thought they had found their breakthrough courtesy of a tap and go from an English offside, where the ball came loose to Ronan Kelleher less than five metres to goal and he burst through the gap. However, TMO would deny Ireland the chance to level as replays shown Tadhg Beirne was holding on to English captain’s Maro Itoje’s leg, and the try was chalked off.
England’s physical tackling and high intensity was proving a challenge for Ireland, looking the sharper of the two sides halfway through the first period.
Ireland seemed to lack composure in the closing stages of attacks, conceding cheap penalties to go along with handling errors. It was looking like they would be unable to take advantage of Marcus Smith’s yellow card, which England suffered in the 25th minute.
However, a moment of magic from James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park got Ireland back into the game. A huge swing of a pass from Garry Ringrose found Lowe on the left, who shook off a tackle and passed back inside to Gibson-Park. A dummy past the English backline gave the scrum-half the space he needed to get over the line. Unfortunately for the hosts, Sam Prendergast’s conversion struck the upright, leaving the score at 7-5 in favour of England.
Ben Earl made great ground through the middle late on in the first-half for the English, with Marcus Smith kicking over an extra three points after Ireland’s defence conceded a penalty. With that, England took a 10-5 lead over Ireland into half-time
With the opening exchanges of the second-half feeling like Ireland were camped inside the English 22 and beyond, Ireland finally broke down the resolute English defence on the 52nd minute mark. Prendergast switched the play to Bundee Aki, who powerfully dragged himself over the line. Prendergast was unfortunately unable to convert, leaving the two sides level at 10 apiece.
Ireland got their noses in front through a bit of luck. A harsh pushing call on Itoje from a lineout allowed Prendergast to kick his first three points between the posts, bringing with it a three point Irish lead just four minutes after Aki’s try.
England put Ireland under the cosh for the next 10 minutes, but a fantastic breakthrough from Lowe through the middle set up the space for Beirne who he offloaded to. With England having pressed Ireland, Beirne’s try brought with it a sense of comfort, especially after Crowley converted to put Ireland up 20-10.
With Ireland in full-flow, another Lowe breakaway on the left followed a brilliant carry from Jack Conan. Lowe fed it back to Sheehan who duly finished off the fantastic team move, and Crowley went two for two on his conversions, stretching the lead to 17 and securing a bonus point.
Five minutes from the end, the blown-away English side did reply in the form of a Tom Curry try after a great carry from Ollie Lawrence. The conversion from Smith was astray, but the distance on the scoreline was too vast for it to have made much of a difference.
Tommy Freeman also got himself over the line for the English after the 80 minute mark, with Smith converting from point-blank range to ensure a strong finish to the game for England. As the final whistle blew, cheers rang around the Aviva as Ireland celebrated a 27-22 victory in their Six Nations opener.
Ireland: Andrew Porter (Cian Healy, 73′); Ronan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan, 50′), Finaly Bealham (Thomas Clarkson, 59′), James Ryan (Iain Henderson, 62′), Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird (Jack Conan, 50′), Josh Van Der Flier; Caelan Doris, Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray, 75′), Sam Prendergast (Jack Crowley, 59′); James Lowe, Bundee Aki (Robbie Henshaw, 58′); Garry Ringrose, Mack Hansen (Henshaw 7′, (Reversed 17′)), Hugo Keenan
England: Ellis Genge (Fin Baxter, 70′); Luke Cowan-Dickie (Theo Dan, 55′), Will Stuart (Joe Heyes, 38′ (reversed HT, 49′, 59′, 70′)), Maro Itoje, George Martin (Ollie Chessum, 59′); Tom Curry, Ben Curry (Chandler Cunningham-South, 59′) ; Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell (Harry Randall, 62′) ; Marcus Smith, Cadan Murley, Henry Slade; Ollie Lawrence, Tommy Freeman, Freddie Steward (Fin Smith, 64′)