Match action
FORTRESS Twickenham no more, stormed by an Ireland side that fully deserved their third Grand Slam after dominating this match – as well as this Championship – when it mattered most.
Joe Schmidt’s side were too well-drilled, too smart and too clinical to let this St Patrick’s Day showdown slip away against an England outfit which, while they never capitulated, were not just second at the breakdown but also chronically indisciplined in crashing to their third successive defeat.
Although England, boosted by their bench, raised a gallop in the final quarter to level the try tally at three apiece, they never looked like derailing Ireland and keeping their unbeaten home record during Eddie Jones’ coaching tenure intact.
Ireland always appeared to have England’s measure, just as they did when spoiling the Red Rose attempts at a second clean sweep in Dublin last year. However, where the Irish have developed as a side with depth and direction – albeit not as flash in attack as some of their supporters would like – England have gone backwards at a rate of knots during this Six Nations.
Where Ireland treasure their own ball as if it were the Crown Jewels, and move might and main to mess with the opposition’s, England have caught the habit of coughing up possession too easily and then hanging off at the breakdown while the other lot recycle with slot-machine certainty.
The home side also seemed rudderless when it came to making the right decisions, giving away multiple penalties in succession to spike their own chances of establishing any momentum. They infringed 13 times in all, and the damage was highlighted when they were penalised three times in succession just before the interval, twice when Kyle Sinckler angled-in at the scrum, and another when George Kruis manhandled his opposite number at a line-out.
The upshot was that Conor Murray was able to work Jacob Stockdale free on the left wing, allowing the big Ulster tyro to demonstrate why he is the most lethal finisher in the tournament, setting a Six Nations record by notching his seventh try in style.
With Jonny May and Mike Brown trying to close him down, Stockdale chipped into the 22. In the chase the ball bounced of his knee, and as the Englishmen slipped over, the Irish wing showed his strength and speed to ground the ball before the dead-ball line.
It was a hammer blow on the stroke of half-time because with Joey Carbery – on while Jonathan Sexton was having an HIA – converting from the touchline to give Ireland a 21-5 advantage going into the second-half, England were skiing uphill.
Ireland’s lead was just reward for their first-half dominance. The precision that has been the hallmark of this Irish team over the course of the campaign did not take long to surface, earning them a crucial first try after only five minutes. This not only settled Irish nerves, but also put another puncture in England’s already deflated confidence.
They were given a helping hand when referee Angus Gardner judged an Owen Farrell tackle on Rob Kearney as he put in a clearance kick to be dangerous, the penalty giving them a foothold in English territory.
From the resulting lineout Sexton put up a steepling garryowen which left Anthony Watson to contend with the descending ball at the same time as Kearney arrived to challenge. With Watson judged by the TMO to have got the last touch in the aerial contest the ball bobbled into the in-goal, and when the full-back missed the chance to ground it on the bounce, Garry Ringrose followed up to touch down for the opening score.
With Sexton converting to make it 7-0 Ireland kept the pressure on. Initially they were unable to turn it into points with Bundee Aki knocking-on with open space in front of him, and Sexton then hitting the upright with a penalty, but midway through the firsthalf they nailed England again.
This time they attacked off a line-out and duped the English defence with a beautifully executed dummy Sexton wraparound. This saw Tadgh Furlong send Aki spearing through the gap that opened up because the defenders expected the tight-head to feed the flyhalf on the loop.
Instead, as Aki raced through the Irish had the classic arrowhead formation, with CJ Stander on his inside and Ringrose to the outside, and when he chose Stander the No.8 rode the tackles of James Haskell and Richard Wigglesworth to ground the ball at the foot of the post.
Sexton’s conversion stretched the lead to 14-0, and, belatedly, England managed to get on the front foot after an Aki shoulder-charge to Elliot Daly’s head resulted in the referee blotting his copybook by letting him off with a penalty.
With Farrell kicking to the corner England mounted three successive five metre line-out drives on catches by Maro Itoje, and when Ireland infringed at all of them, with Peter O’Mahony collapsing the last, O’Mahony was sinbinned.
However, the inability of the England pack to close the show was laid bare when, after a fourth kick to the corner, Dylan Hartley’s long throw sailed over Chris Robshaw’s head allowing Ireland to clear their lines.
It was a hammer blow, but with the Irish reduced to 14 Farrell refused to let go of the lifeline. With Mako Vunipola managing to barge a path to the Irish posts and produce a recycle that, for once, was not treacle slow, Farrell stabbed through a wicked low chipkick which left the Irish defence in the blocks as Daly raced round to touch
down. Although Farrell could not convert, at 14-5 England were back in the running – until the three in a row brain fade ushered Stockdale into the frame.
England started the second-half as if they believed they could overhaul Ireland’s 16-point lead, and Daly, who was easily England’s biggest threat, came close to scoring when a long whip-pass by Farrell appeared to have put him outside Keith Earls.
However, as Daly skipped clear the Irish wing clipped his heel to send him sprawling, keeping the Irish buffer-zone intact.
It stayed that way until just before the hour mark when another English penalty – this time Jamie George for not rolling clear after making a tackle – gave Murray the chance to stretch Ireland’s lead to 24-5.
The all-court Irish scrum-half made no mistake, and although the English bench cavalry mounted a charge, it was a lost cause.
The home side chased hard, with the impressive Daly scoring his second try thanks to a crisp attack which saw Danny Care, Farrell and George Ford make ground before Mike Brown’s backhand offload put him clear, but with Farrell missing the extras at 24-10 with 15 minutes remaining they were too far adrift.
England kept coming and in the final minute they scored again with Ben Te’o’s pass putting Jonny May over.
However, at that stage Ireland knew they had another Slam in the bag – and as the St Paddy’s Day celebrations got underway in earnest, England, and coach Jones, were left to reflect on a fifth place Six Nations finish after a tournament in which they went into free-fall.