The All Blacks a lesson

passes. Their movement pulled up Ireland’s left wing, Daly kicked in behind, and with Henshaw too far over, the chase pressured Jacob Stockdale into conceding a try.

Perhaps none of this was the surprise of the day. Wayne Smith has been a long-time admirer of Farrell’s kicking. But England’s passing was a revelation. It was accurate through most of the game and enabled men to run onto the ball. It also created two tries. The first came about in the Ireland’s CJ Stander is tackled by England duo Maro Itoje, left, and George Kruis during Sunday’s Six Nations match in Dublin. opening minutes. The Irish defence should have coped but Earls decided to press up, looking to force an error. Farrell threw a double miss pass of such instant timing and accuracy, that he took out the Irish defence and left Daly and Jonny May with a two on one. It was the sort of pass that Richie Mo’unga could have made under such pressure, but not so many others.

The pass also set up England’s third try. Knowing Henshaw would have to cover the backfield, England had set up an extra man off the scrum by pulling up Daly. The England fullback’s presence with Jack Nowell meant that Ireland had to cover their left side with two defenders.

That left Farrell, Henry Slade, Manu Tuilagi (the decoy) and May lined up against Jonny Sexton, Ringrose and Jordan Larmour. Perfect cutout passes from Youngs and Slade gave May an overlap and set up the score. It was clearly a planned set-up and move against a narrow defence. England, under Eddie Jones, have been doing a lot of work on core skills.

And finally England’s defence was magnificent. James Ryan, who averaged 1.06 metres, was the only Irish forward to get over a metre per carry. The man who shut Ireland down was John Mitchell, ex-All Blacks coach and a man unfairly lampooned in these parts.

England hooker Jamie George said, ‘‘We knew we had to be brave and confrontational. [Defence coach] John Mitchell has given us the confidence to go and get people. It was a big statement. It was probably the most enjoyable win I’ve had in an England jersey and potentially the most complete performance I’ve been a part of.’’

England often had a rapidly advancing pod of four to squeeze Ireland’s creative space. They targeted Sexton, but they also gave license, as George said, to spot the tackle and come out for the hit. England gave away a little on the outside, but the pressure was so intense and so sustained that Ireland crumbled. That was summed up when Sexton gave away an intercept try at the end with Youngs barrelling up on him.

Former Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton said, ‘‘England have reminded us all that, while many aspects of the game are vitally important, we play a collision sport, where aggressive defence, contact area and pure physicality wins games.’’

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt added, ‘‘We got man-handled a little bit. It’s not too dissimilar to the All Blacks here a couple of years ago when we got beaten up and we got beaten up again today.’’

Actually it was dissimilar. England’s assault was into the chest and ribs of Ireland. The All Blacks took out the head. England’s defence was beautiful. New Zealand’s was ugly. Hopefully New Zealand have the humility to learn and improve, because despite England’s performance, the All Blacks have the playing talent to remain odds on to win the World Cup.