Devastating England dare to dream again
ENGLAND fans left Dublin last night dreaming of Six Nation success – and even World Cup glory – as Eddie Jones’ men buried Ireland in their own Aviva Stadium fortress.
Ireland had been installed as hot favourites for the Championship having risen to the status of No2 team in the world after last season’s Grand Slam and their recent defeat of the world champion All Blacks.
Yet they were made to look second class in this 32-20 defeat, spearheaded by England’s new midfield axis with Henry Slade scoring twice in a bonus-point win.
Manu Tuilagi made his first start in the Six Nations since 2013 as Jones’ side opened up with a maximum haul against the tournament favourites.
Jonny May scored England’s first try inside 90 seconds and while Ireland hit back through Cian Healy, England ran out comfortable winners with further tries by Slade and Elliot Daly.
The one cloud was a potential medial ligament injury to England’s outstanding second row Maro Itoje. He is certain to miss England’s date with France at Twickenham next Saturday and could be out for the rest of the tournament.
Jones said: “I’m really pleased for the players. These players can play rugby. We don’t teach them how to play. We just create an evironment for them to get better and hopefully we’re doing that.”
Exeter Chiefs centre Slade thrived in his part-
nership with Tuilagi. “We dug in today,” Slade said. “We had a lot of defending to do. We’ve put in a big shift over the last couple of weeks in camp.
“We knew exactly how we wanted to play and we executed it perfectly. The half-backs controlled the game well and everyone put themselves on the line.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever had the chance to play with Manu Tuilagi. I really enjoyed playing with him and who knows, maybe we can carry on.”
Jones, right, added: “We want them to try things and I thought their performances tonight were outstanding.
“We want to play good England rugby, which involves attacking kicks and putting pressure on the opposition.
“The other thing that really pleased me was the leadership of the senior players. That’s really taken a step forward for us. Owen did a great job as captain. We kept our composure, played to the referee as much as we could and the senior players kept the players on focus.
“We need to focus on France now, they played really well against Wales.”