Ireland make it 10 in-a-row
Ireland recorded their 10th consecutive Test win and kept alive their hope of back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slams.
Having beaten England 19-9 in a bruising encounter in Dublin on Sunday, Ireland will now await their encounter with Wales in Cardiff in a fortnight – as that would be their next hurdle on the way to a dream season in this World Cup year.
It also ended a run of four successive defeats to the English, whose own hopes of the Grand Slam disappeared with this defeat, and could see the Irish retain the Five/Six Nations trophy for the first time since 1948/49.
It was an absorbing game. It was a match of limited continuity, little creativity, lots of kicking, quite a bit of bashing, and it was completely absorbing and the end to each half came with a jolt of surprise. And in the end, despite a greater English effort as defeat closed in on them, Ireland deserved their win. After all they led from the first minute to the last.
They also produced the creativity in the match, the bits of surprise. It took England till time was up to do anything creative and then they were just a forward pass away from scoring a try.
Beforehand, there was much concern in Ireland about the scrumming. The feeling was that if they could just hold the English scrum, they had a chance to win. For the most part Ireland scrummed magnificently – holding England to a stalemate, but then England had the put-in at only one scrum – late in the second half. Ireland put the ball into nine scrums and looked vulnerable only late in the second half when they changed both props and then the hooker, not that they were overwhelmed.
It was a match of much kicking and lots of bashing, which may well have reduced the number of handling errors and hence the number of scrums.
Ireland lost two precious players during the match. Sean O'Brien took a knock to the head and his legs turned to rubber. Off he went. Then just after kicking the splendid conversion of Robbie Henshaw's try Jonny Sexton went off with what seemed to be hamstring trouble, but it did not reduce Irish determination to play with zest. They just seemed more intent on winning – getting the fifty-fifty ball, tackling with intent and contesting the post-tackle with great energy.
It had been an unpleasant day in Dublin's fair city but then it stopped snowing and raining and the wind dropped, making the playing conditions pleasant and fair to both sides. And the mood in the ground was one of high excitement and anticipation.
England kicked off, Ireland won a turnover and England were penalised when Jamie Heaslip infringed at a tackle. Sexton goaled. 3-0 after just a minute.
Ireland came back on the attack and Sexton kicked a beautiful diagonal kick towards Tommy Bowe's wing. Alex Goode managed to get the ball but ran back over his line and into touch-in-goal for a five-metre scrum for Ireland, a secure scrum by Ireland. Ireland attacked and Rory Best was held up for another five-metre scrum to Ireland, another secure scrum and Ireland attacked again. Rob Kearney was close and Heaslip was penalised. 6-0 after 8 minutes, and England had had precious little possession up till then.
England won their line-out and went wide left. Lively Jack Nowell kicked ahead and covering Simon Zebo ran the ball out for another England line-out. England attacked briefly and George Ford, on advantage, kicked a dropped goal. 6-3 after 11 minutes. But not long afterwards he missed from in front, but by then England were getting on top.
England got more into the game now and when Ireland stood off a possible maul in the line-out England, unlike the Springboks' in November, coped easily, and Ireland did not do it again.
England won a line-out but the Irish came up quickly and Sexton caught Luther Burrell. Ireland piled in, Burrell was penalised for holding on and Sexton made it 9-3 after 28 minutes. Oddly, just before half-time Sexton missed a kick at goal, a rare phenomenon.
Ireland started the second half with zest and Murray broke well before passing towards Robbie Henshaw who flykicked ahead and Goode saved brilliantly, beating three Irishmen to get away from his in-goal area.
David Attwood was offside and a nuisance and after 47 minutes Ireland led 12-0.
Ireland attacked in aggressive phases and Sexton again kicked a diagonal for Bowe which had Ireland close on attack. The referee was playing advantage when Murray lobbed a kick into the England in-goal, close to touch. Henshaw chased. He and Goode leapt for the ball. Henshaw got it and dropped to ground for a try, confirmed by the TMO that he was just inside touch-in-goal. From touch on the right, right-footed Sexton converted brilliantly. Green joy was audible, pretty well tangible. Ireland led 19-3 after 52 minutes.
There was considerable time to play but the only further scoring came from two penalties by Ford, the first at a scrum.
Tommy Bowe could well have scored when he just failed to hold an attempted intercept just outside England's 22.
Ford kicked his second penalty and it was 19-9 with 13 minutes to play.
From a scrum in his 22, Billy Vunipola showed that he was still playing when he picked up at the back of the scrum and pounded off downfield before kicking ahead but the ball rolled dead. England got onto close attack. Richard Wigglesworth was close and Nick Easter was over but in going over he had driven into Billy Twelvetrees and the referee ordered a scrum for accidental offside.
Ireland kept it close but then when they were freekicked for an early jump in a line-out, England bashed their way onto the attack. till they came wide left and Nowell skidded over in the corner but the pass from Twelvetrees was forward, and the final whistle went – to set Irish hearts leaping for joy.
Man of the Match: George Ford was England's brightest spark and Chris Robshaw its hardest and most effective worker but Ireland had those brave and skilled halves in Jonny Sexton and Connor Murray, a centre of great talent and promise in Robbie Henshaw, the fearless zeal of Peter O'Mahony, the line-out work of Devin Toner and the enthusiasm and all-round ability of our Man of the Match, Rory Best.
Moment of the Match: The try – the audacity and skill of it.
Villain of the Match: Nobody at all. It was played between two teams of gentlemen, playing with might, main and good manners. There was none of the Irish anger, it seemed, of forty odd years ago and the six hundred years before that. The fixture has settled into an ordinary rugby match – extraordinary but normal.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Try: Henshaw
Con: Sexton
Pens: Sexton 4
For England:
Pens: Ford 2
DG: Ford
Teams:
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jordi Murphy, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Martin Moore, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Tommy O'Donnell, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Felix Jones.
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 James Haskell, 5 George Kruis, 4 David Attwood, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Nick Easter, 20 Tom Croft, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TMO: Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)
