Eight-try England run up record score against Ireland
ENGLAND turned up the heat at the right time in their World Cup warm-up preparations, producing a rampant attacking display to torch an undercooked Ireland side which, by the end of this ordeal, had been burnt to a crisp.
It finished with England beating Ireland by a record score, and a 42 point record margin, after the home side signed off the Twickenham tranche of their World Cup warm-ups with an eight tries to two blitz in front of a crowd basking in the 30 degree heat.
Ireland had no answer to the power and pace of twotry giant Joe Cokanasiga and man-of-the-match Manu Tuilagi – who looked back to his turbo-charged best after scoring just before half-time – while the England pack laid the foundations.
A combination of setpiece dominance, with Maro Itoje ransacking the Irish line-out, and the backrow of ‘Kamikaze Kid’ flankers Tom Curry and Sam Underhill and Billy Vunipola running riot, left the visitors on the back foot in every facet of the contest.
Even though England had the advantage of being more battle-hardened having played their doubleheader against Wales, set against the Irish having had just one match, against Italy, the disparity between the teams will have been a hammer blow to Ireland’s World Cup preparations – and ambitions.
While it will leave their coach Joe Schmidt shellshocked, his England counterpart Eddie Jones will take a great deal of satisfaction from seeing this selection click, with the midfield combination of George Ford, Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi a potent mix of velvet glove and iron fist.
There was no indication of the rout to come during a lively opening quarter which saw Farrell give England an early lead with a long range penalty before Ireland struck back with a Jordan Larmour try.
It had its genesis in Iain Henderson ripping the ball off George Kruis at a lineout – one of their few gains in that department – and when the ball was whisked down the Irish backline to Jacob Stockdale the rangy winger slid a well-weighted chip which bounced just before the English line.
Stockdale took off in pursuit with an England posse of Cokanasiga, Tuilagi and Elliot Daly trying to beat him to it. The bounce-back beat them all, and it was scooped up by Larmour who grounded it unchallenged.
When Ross Byrne, who was deputising for the injured Johnny Sexton, added the extras Ireland led 7-3. However, the England back three had obviously been told to get busy, and during the week Cokanasiga had warned he wanted to get his hands on the ball more.
The strapping Fijianborn winger made good on that pre-match promise to himself thanks to a textbook move straight from an England scrum put-in which saw Billy Vunipola pick-up and link with Ben Youngs. The ball was then moved crisply from Farrell to Ford, and, with Jonny May coming off his wing and passing to Daly to create the overlap, the try was on. The full-back’s pass to Cokanasiga was on the money as he hit it at full tilt to beat Larmour’s cover tackle and dot down.
Although Farrell missed the conversion, England led 8-7, and the England backrow and Itoje were making their presence felt by winning the trench warfare. This was emphasised when a heavy tackle by Curry dumped Cian Healy backwards, and Underhill emulated this later on by bulldozing Tadgh Furlong.
Itoje’s growing influence was clear when his off-thetop line-out delivery saw Tuilagi crash through to make a classic line-break up the middle, and the lock followed up to give May a chance to stretch his legs.
Ireland got a brief respite when a Rob Kearney penalty from just inside England’s half gave them a 10-8 advantage on 25 minutes – but it was the last time they were in front.
The England pack went into overdrive, and a combination of tight inter-passing by Billy Vunipola, Itoje and Kyle Sinckler, followed by a steaming Tuilagi charge up the middle, saw the Irish defence splintered.
When the ball was moved smartly from the ruck quick hands by Ford and Curry saw Daly race in for the second Red Rose try, and after Farrell converted, a 15-10 lead.
A third followed when Tuilagi blasted past two defenders to score five minutes before the interval after Vunipola and Youngs had linked from a scrum – and with Farrell hitting the target it gave England a healthy 22-10 half-time lead.
In the second half England wasted no time in turning the screw on an increasingly subdued, misfiring Irish outfit. A line-out overthrow saw Underhill set up a ruck 30 metres from the Irish line and when Itoje ran hard on a good line Youngs’ pass hit the mark, and the Saracens lock raced between the posts untouched.
After Farrell converted the try procession continued almost uninterrupted when May managed to slip the ball back after being stopped in the corner by Rob Kearney, and Vunipola, Farrell, Curry and Youngs handled before Kruis barged over.
Farrell’s extras made it 36-10, and, after a Tuilagi chest-high hit had flattened Larmour, the home side struck again when a sweetly-timed short pass by Sinckler sent Underhill racing into the Irish 22 before his outside pass put his back row accomplice
Curry in for England’s sixth touchdown.
Cokanasiga scored his second try of the afternoon when England capitalised on another scrum put-in. As Willi Heinz, Ford and Farrell combined a decoy run by Tuilagi saw the England captain put Cokanasiga through the gap – and there was no-stopping him.
Trailing 50-10 Ireland were on a hiding to nothing, but Bundee Aki sounded a note of defiance when he capitalised on poor defence by Daly to score with eight minutes left.
There was another blemish when Mako Vunipola, making his first start since injuring his hamstring in May, was forced off just before the end having strained it again.
However, the quality of this display meant that, despite Ireland’s shortcomings, England deserved to finish on a high note, and they did when Luke CowanDickie scored a carbon copy of his try against Wales a fortnight ago after collecting an Irish overthrow.
Farrell’s conversion put the seal on the record win, and if England can produce six carbon copies of this in Japan – against stronger opposition than this Irish side provided – they will be in the hunt for the Webb Ellis trophy.