Off day as Ewels sees red after 82 SECS
AND IRISH MAKE ’EM PAY
15EDDIE JONES claimed England’s defeat by Ireland will prove to be a turning point for his side.
Even though they were outscored by four tries to nil in a loss which ended their Six Nations title hopes.
Head coach Jones believes the fight his team showed following Charlie Ewels’ dramatic sending off for a high tackle after just 82 seconds at Twickenham will be the making of England.
England fought like men possessed, but in the end their Six Nations title hopes went up in smoke.
Ewels’ dismissal was the fastest in the history of the tournament as he became just the second Englishman after Manu Tuilagi against Wales two years ago to be sent off in the championship.
Spirit
Although their undermanned pack kept them in the contest until the last quarter, Andy Farrell’s side pulled clear late on to inflict what in the end was England’s heaviest defeat at Twickenham for seven years.
But Jones said:
“I just couldn’t be prouder of them.
“They will learn a lot from that. I see it as a foundation game for us. The spirit and the determination, the ability to work through problems was absolutely outstanding.
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“Charlie is disappointed but no one apportions blame. It was a genuine mistake and we’ve no complaints over the red card.”
Ireland immediately exploited their extra man as Josh van der Flier put James Lowe in for a sixth-minute try and it looked like a long afternoon ahead for England when they then lost Tom Curry to a leg injury.
But adversity served to inspire
England. With Jack
Nowell pressed into service in the back row for shoving duties, England’s pack eked out a series of scrum penalties.
The outstanding Hugo Keenan stormed over from a quickly-taken tap penalty by man-of-the-match Jamison Gibson-park for Ireland’s
When Smith drilled over his second penalty of the half after an hour as Ireland’s scrum caved in again it was 15-15 and an animated home crowd sensed something remarkable.
But the Herculean effort had
to tell and even with their bench emptied the space finally opened up for Ireland.
Jonny Sexton restored Ireland’s lead with a penalty and then with eight minutes left back row Jack Conan went over.
The bonus-point score came four minutes later as Finlay Bealham muscled his way over.
Ireland coach Farrell said: “It was a crazy old game.
“Congratulations to England, at times with their set-piece they put us under the cosh but we managed to find a way.”