Irish deny England 2nd 6 Nations Slam, end 18-win streak

Rugby

Ireland knocked back England 13-9 in a bruising Six Nations match to deny the English another Grand Slam and a record 19th straight win yesterday.

England retained the championship last weekend, and came to Dublin with a chance at successive Grand Slams, achieved by only five other teams, and not in 19 years.

But the English were handed their first defeat since the 2015 Rugby World Cup pool stage by a swarming Ireland defence fired up by a partisan home crowd on a rainy St. Patrick's holiday weekend.

The English, averaging four tries a match, failed to cross, and were limited to three Owen Farrell penalties.

The Irish also broke New Zealand's 18-test win streak, the longest in tier one, in November.

They dominated first-half play, overpowering England at the breakdown and mounting dangerous line breaks down the right wing led by fullback Jared Payne in his first international start since November.

Following penalties, the Irish led 10-3 after lock Iain Henderson broke from a maul and dove across the line before Anthony Watson could react to the game's only try.

While Ireland was dominating England statistically, that lone try advantage looked precarious as England emerged far more determined in the second half and seized control of possession. England, after all, had already achieved two second-half comebacks versus France and Wales.

Yet England barely touched Ireland's 22, hampered by worsening conditions as the evening drizzle turned to a bone-chilling downpour.

Peter O'Mahony, starting as a last-minute replacement for Jamie Heaslip, stole two English throwins and was named Ireland's man of the match in an effective backrow combination with CJ Stander and Sean O'Brien.

Farrell was a perfect 3-for-3 from the tee, including a 45-meter strike that pulled England within 10-6 in the 51st minute.

Irish flyhalf Jonathan Sexton once again bore the brunt of the opponents' defensive focus, suffering at least three late hits — and rising each time to gain pos- session and critical points. Like Farrell, he was 3-for-3, including a 46-meter kick in the 62nd for Ireland's final points.

The win kept Ireland unbeaten at home in Six Nations play since 2013 and lifted it to second in the table, still a disappointment after a season in which it was touted as the favorite to oust England as champions.

The Irish entered the Six Nations having defeated all three southern hemisphere powers last year, including their first ever victory over the All Blacks.

But they lost away to Scotland and Wales, the latter ending their championship hopes last weekend. Had they lost to England, Ireland would have been swept by the three British sides for the first time since 1998. FRANCE 20, WALES 18 For 79 minutes, this was a gritty, mundane match. Then came injury time - all 21 minutes of it to send spectators in the Stade de France into a frenzy.

In that period, when France was 18-13 behind and camped on the Welsh line, Wales prop Samson Lee was sin-binned and came back on, first-choice France prop Rabah Slimani came back on having already been substituted, France's Brice Dulin was accused of biting wing George North, and the French forced penalty after penalty in the scrum.

French pressure finally told when replacement No. 8 Damien Chouly squeezed through a gap to score a try and Camille Lopez landed the conversion, before sinking to his knees.

The result meant dropped to fifth place. Wales SCOTLAND 29, ITALY 0 Cotter rarely displays any emotion publicly but the New Zealander was in tears after the game, his last before moving back to French club rugby next season.

It was fitting that his final match in charge saw Scotland grab an attacking bonus point, given the improvement in the team's cutting edge out wide under Cotter. All four tries came from Scotland's backs, with flyhalf Finn Russell and center Matt Scott going over in the first half and wingers Tim Visser and Tommy Seymour in the second.