Fourteen-man England breeze past Ireland

With just half-an-hour to go at Twickenham on Saturday – with Hames Haskell in the sin bin or foul play – Ireland took the lead (10-6) with a Conor Murray try.

However, tries by Anthony Watson and Mike Brown – as England turned up the blowtorch – saw them surge clear and into a one-point lead (ahead of Wales) on the Six Nations table.

And the two teams, England and Wales, will go head-to-head at Twickenham in a tournament decider in a fortnight.

Inside centre Owen Farrell kicked England's remaining points.

Ireland flyhalf Conor Murray's try early in the second half had previously helped overturn a 6-3 interval deficit, with the rest of their points kicked by flyhalf Jonathan Sexton.

But this defeat left the defending Six Nations champions without a win from their first three games.

England had to play the final nine minutes a man down after replacement scrumhalf Danny Care was yellow-carded in a ruck incident.

Ireland debutant Josh van de Flier was then held up over the line by replacement back Elliot Daly, also winning his first cap, and England then won a relieving penalty from the ensuing Irish scrum.

This was England's first match at Twickenham since a 33-13 defeat by Australia in October saw them become the first host nation to be knocked out of the World Cup at the group stage.

Jones had riled Ireland by suggesting their favoured kicking game was not the way he wanted to play rugby and also by expressing concerns for the health of Sexton, who has had several concussions in his career.

But it was Sexton who kicked Ireland into a fifth-minute lead with a 40-metre penalty only for Farrell to draw England level before another long-range effort went wide.

With neither side threatening a try, England No 8 Billy Vunipola, the man-of-the-match, almost found a way through with a blindside break off a ruck in the 23rd minute before being tackled into touch just short of the line by Murray and flanker CJ Stander.

From a penalty, England saw an attacking line-out move end with skipper Dylan Hartley held up under the posts.

Even worse for England, they were denied a five-metre scrum after the hooker was penalised for a double movement.

However, the hosts soon had an attacking scrum just 10 metres from the Irish line.

England's series of close-range drives produced another scrum before Jonathan Joseph, a hat-trick hero against Italy, knocked-on carelessly.

The centre's error was one of several England handling mistakes in the first half.

England did get some reward when Farrell kicked a long-range penalty to give them a narrow half-time advantage.

Early in the second half Ireland kicked a penalty to touch, rather than have Sexton go for goal, only for Itoje to steal the resulting line-out.

England, however, were soon down to 14 men when openside flanker James Haskell was yellow-carded for a late and high tackle on Murray.

Again, Ireland spurned a kickable penalty chance but this time won the line-out and Murray did well to dive over for a try off a ruck.

Sexton landed the difficult conversion from out on the right and Ireland led 10-6.

But Farrell's third successful penalty from distance cut Ireland's advantage to a point in a match where Steve Hansen, coach of world champions New Zealand, was among a 81,826 crowd.

In a change of tactics England, spreading the ball wide, saw wing Jack Nowell burst clear before he was hauled down short of the line by Keith Earls.

But when the ball came across field, a floated pass from former captain Chris Robshaw sent left wing Watson in at the opposite corner in the 58th minute.

Farrell missed the conversion but minutes later England had a second try when, after Vunipola had driven hard, the ball was spun wide to full-back Brown who made the most of a huge overlap.

This time Farrell converted and England led 21-10.

Ireland almost hit back when only Nowell's desperate tackle on Henshaw prevented a try after a Sexton break.

Man of the match: Jonathan Sexton showed his usual class, while Stuart McCloskey Wes masterful on debut. CJ Stander was far more impressive after the break than in the first half, while Jamie Heaslip was Ireland's most productive player. Billy Vunipola made metres almost at will, while Mike Brown had moments of influence. Rookie lock Maro Itoje showed he is set to become a fixture in the England side and wins our award.

Moment of the match: There is James Haskell's sin-binning in the 44th minute gave Ireland the momentum that resulted in the Conor Murray try and half the potential to turn the game. Then there was the Anthony Watson try in the 58th minute that swung momentum back to England. However, the powerful England scrum that won them a penalty in the 74th minute on an Ireland feed five metres out said it all about the home team's attitude and that is our best moment.

Villain of the match: This one goes to England flank James Haskell – for that cheap, and late, shot on Conor Murray that saw him being sin-binned.

The scorers:

For England:

Tries: Watson, Brown

Con: Farrell

Pens: Farrell 3

For Ireland:

Tries: Murray

Cons: Sexton

Pens: Sexton

Yellow card: James Haskell (England, 44 – foul play, dangerous, high and late tackle), Danny Care (England, 71 – professional foul, cynically killing the ball)

Teams

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 James Haskell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Joe Marler.

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola,  18 Paul Hill, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Danny Care, 22 Elliot Daly, 23 Alex Goode.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (captain), 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Nathan White, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Simon Zebo.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Alexandre Ruiz (France)

TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

AFP & @rugby365com