England suffer joint-worst Six Nations loss as Ireland prevail
England collapsed to their joint-worst Guinness Six Nations finish after being routed 32-18 by Ireland as an ill-fated title defence ended tamely at the Aviva Stadium.
A week after appearing to signal the end of a shaky period by dispatching France, they failed to fire a shot against opponents they had beaten four times in a row.
Combined with defeats by Scotland and Wales, it equals theirSixNationsperformance from 2018, when they also lost three games and finished fifth under the guidance of Eddie Jones. In 2005 and 2006 they lost three times and finished fourth.
The highlight of Ireland's most impressive outing since Andy Farrell took charge after the 2019 World Cup was Jack Conan's try that concluded 23 phasesofhighly-polishedplay.
It was a mesmerising score directed by the brilliant Johnny Sexton, but Keith Earls' opener was almost as accomplishedasEnglandwerepicked apartbyasmartline-outmove.
The team leading at halftime have gone on to win in the last 27 meetings between therivalsandwithIreland20-6 ahead at the interval, it looked bleakforthefallenchampions.
For the last 16 minutes Ireland played with 14 men after Bundee Aki was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Billy Vunipola, but the centre's departure made no difference as the retiring CJ Stander was given a triumphant send-off.
Sexton was at the heart of Ireland's riotous display and amassed 22 points from the kicking tee, comprehensively overshadowing George Ford in one of several Lions duels fought out in Dublin.
Ford will be among a number of England players to see their Lions aspirations harmed, albeit he was playing behind an outmuscled pack, while the prospects of their rivalsingreenshirtshavesoared.
And Jones' position now faces renewed scrutiny with the team in full reverse 18 months after reaching the World Cup final.
England suffered a setback shortly before kick-off by losing Max Malins to injury, with the resulting reshuffle seeing Ollie Lawrence slot in at outside centre and Elliot Daly switch back to full-back.
Daly's first involvement was to kick the ball out on the full but the error failed to deter his team, whose control of thebreakdownandline-outoffered crucial early footholds.
Owen Farrell and Sexton exchanged penalties before a Ford spiral bomb was misjudged by Conor Murray, but fortunately for the scrum-half Aki was present to intervene.
Searching for their 50th win in the fixture, Ireland engineered the first try when a line-out move saw number eight Conan flick the ball to Earls who sprinted clear and roundedawrong-footedJonny May to score.
Ireland struck again when Hugo Keenan beat Daly toahighballbeforeplayswung left, where the impressive Conanpouncedfromshortrange.
The penalties were accumulating for Jones' team and althoughEarlshadasecondtry ruled out for an earlier knockon,Sextonlandedthreepoints as the lead became 23-6.
BillyVunipolawasstripped oftheballinthetackleandFarrell disappeared for an HIA. Themiserycompoundedwhen Sexton booted his fourth penalty. Aki was sent off for a high tackle on Vunipola and England were smart with the penalty, a line-out drive enabling GeorgetopeeloffandsendBen Youngs darting over. But Sextonrifledovertwomorepenalties to snuff out the fightback, with May crossing late on with the result already settled.