Underdogs? England are the big dogs of Dublin now
ENGLAND may have arrived in Dublin as underdogs, but they go home as the big dogs of this Six Nations having pulled off a victory to rank alongside their greatest away wins.
They not only outplayed and outmuscled the Irish in most facets of the game, outscoring last season’s Grand Slam champions by four tries to two – with Henry Slade bagging a double – they also ended their six year long unbeaten Six Nations record at the Aviva.
They beat an Irish team that had all the laurels, with the garlands piled high following their win over the All Blacks in the autumn, not to mention last season’s Grand Slam: Ireland were team of the year, Johnny Sexton was player of the year, and Joe Schmidt the coach of the year.
However, it was Eddie Jones’ team that took the glittering prize here, setting themselves up for a tilt at the title after inflicting Schmidt’s first home loss as Ireland coach.
As a contest it was never less than enthralling, because neither side was prepared to give an inch in an unrelentingly brutal battle of the gain-line.
Despite the noise of the crowd crammed into the Aviva Stadium, with the ref-link turned up to full volume, the only symphony you could hear was the constant smack of muscle and bone colliding along with the groans of exer- tion from combatants.
Usually it is this Ireland side who get an edge in the close-quarter ferocity, but this time they were matched by England – and then, inexorably, knocked backwards.
There was barely an England player who did not get the edge in his personal battle against his Irish opposite number, but Tom Curry, Mako Vunipola and Maro Itoje moved mountains up front, while Jonny May had an immaculate game in attack and defence – and also hoovered-up every high kick aimed at him.
Manu Tuilagi, who was making his first start in the Championship since 2013, was also worthy of a mention in despatches for a sterling defensive display in which he kept the Irish centre pairing of Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose in check.
This gave England the platform for a deserved 17-10 lead at the interval, with converted tries by May and Elliot Daly and a Farrell penalty set against a Cian Healy converted try and a Sexton penalty.
But as the match built towards break-point, the pendulum appeared to swing Ireland’s way.
As the Irish went into overdrive, punching deep into England’s 22, Itoje fell awkwardly and suffered a medial knee ligament injury which could keep him out of the rest of the tournament.
If losing one of their forward talismen was not enough of a blow, when Sexton kicked a penalty to trim the deficit to 17-13, the Irish were on a roll – and when Owen Farrell missed a pressure kick in front of the posts on the hour their dander was well and truly up.
However, England dug deep into their reserves of resolve and five minutes later ripped the initiative back off Rory Best’s side when, from a clean strike at a scrum, Ben Youngs whipped the ball to Slade and the Exeter centre sent a long pass to May on the right touchline.
As May got into his raking stride he chipped deep into the Irish 22 and when Slade won the race to touch down – following the TMO’s confirmation that he was level with May when he kicked – England were in clover at 22-13 ahead.
Although Farrell was unable to add the conversion, a crucial chop tackle by Lawes on Ringrose – with Curry getting over the ball to win a turn-over penalty – saw him make no mistake from the tee, stretching England’s lead to 25-13 with ten minutes remaining.
With Ireland in the unaccustomed position of having to play catch-up, and England harrying them like a pack of ravenous hounds, a Sexton attempt to run the ball from deep in the 76th minute backfired as the razor-sharp Slade picked off his pass, and after an acrobatic juggle-catch worthy of a slip fielder placed the ball over the line.
Farrell converted for England to lead 32-13, and the only blot was sloppy defence in the penultimate minute of the match that allowed Ireland’s bench scrum-half John Cooney cross for a soft try.
It contrasted starkly with the steely determination and impeccable execution England showed at the start of the first-half.
Jones had promised that his team would be primed for this test against Ireland before and after their Portugal training camp, and the men in white were true to his words as they made immediate inroads from the kick-off.
With Murray forced to clear to touch on the 22, England attacked, bringing Tuilagi into play from the first line-out of the encounter.
There was more than a hint of the old menace as the Leicester blockbuster rammed over the gain-line, and as England moved the ball from Billy Vunipola’s off-load they found the chink in the Irish armour they were probing for.
Farrell made the telling cut with a superb flat pass just inside the Irish 22 which flashed past the defensive line to give Daly a two-on-one, and he drew the last defender to put May in for a text-book opening try with just three minutes played. With Farrell kicking the conversion England had made the perfect start for a 7-0 lead.
Ireland got off the mark thanks to a Sexton penalty, and with the score at 7-3 England did themselves no favours with a series of infringements, including being reduced to 14 men
when Curry was sin-binned for a tackle on Keith Earls which was high and late.
Ireland made it count when Cian Healy drilled over from close range after a line-out drive, and with Sexton adding the extras they led 10-7 midway through a torrid half.
However, England bounced back rapidly by borrowing from the Irish playbook when Daly slid through a precision grubber which turned Jacob Stockdale, and when he spilled the ball in-goal as Jack Nowell tackled him, Daly dived to score.
Farrell’s conversion made it 14-10.
With England going full tilt before the break Mako Vunipola was denied a try for using his knee to propel himself over the line after touching down fractionally short, but Farrell’s penalty for an infringement in the build-up saw him give England their half-time advantage.
After that Eddie Jones’ side refused to be denied, and they went into the Dublin night to celebrate a victory which could set them on the road to even greater prizes.