THE Ireland supporters went to Lansdowne Road last Saturday with a level of hope and expectation that the home side would build on what had been achieved against Wales a fortnight earlier. So much for high hopes. Instead, they had to witness' England do a demolition job. Their victory, by 46 points to six, takes them another step along the road to a three fold objective of Triple Crown championship and Grand Slam.
England chose a course of action that was initially serviceable, then in the final 15 minutes, decorated their performance with a scoring blitz of devastating proportions. The five English tries left Ireland to ruminate on a defeat of record proportions and to face the reality of its numerical expression.
The final scoreline may have flattered England and been out of synch with the overall trend of the match, but there is little consolation in that.
Translated into bare statistics, a 40 point losing margin was the heaviest defeat inflicted on Ireland in the history of the championship, and 46 points was the highest total ever conceded by Ireland, home or away. It was a record championship win for England against any opposition and their highest score in the long history of this championship.
It not easy to put this match into a coherent context. With the match in the 50th minute, England held a tenuous enough 14-6 lead and if at that stage they looked the likely winners, a score for Ireland could have had a considerable bearing on subsequent events.
To that point, England had scored one try. It came as a direct result of a missed touch kick by Maurice Field and was scored by Jonathan Sleightholme in the 19th minute. England led 11-6 at the interval and subsequently, 14-6 in the 42nd minute.
Then in the 49th minute, after Ireland had been awarded a penalty outside their "25", an act of silly indiscipline by David Corkery was picked up by a touch judge, the decision was reversed and England out half Paul Grayson kicked the penalty his fourth of the match.
England must have felt that this, indeed, was to be their day, but could scarcely have imagined at this point that they would run up a record score by creating five tries from the 65th minute to the end of the match.
England took maximum advantage of Ireland's frenzied and totally inept attempts to attack from inside their own "25", in situations that were certain to lead to the demolition that ensued. It is unfortunate to have to say so, but England also exploited the spiritual failings that Ireland revealed in the closing stages, failings that left one wishing time away and the final whistle to blow.
When Grayson kicked his fourth penalty, to leave England 11 points clear, England were moving into the comfort zone in a match that, to this stage, had been one that lacked much in the way of quality.
Ireland could have cut down England's 17-6 advantage by four points in the 57th minute, had not Denis Hickie been extremely unlucky. Ireland won a ruck and Niall Hogan and Denis McBride combined to attack on the short side. Hickie cut inside to take Hogan's pass, went for the line and looked set to score under the posts. With the England defence split, hooker Martin Regan put out a despairing hand and seemed to make contact with Hickie's right heel. It was enough to make Hickie stagger, he could not regain control and went to ground.
That brave attempt and a great run by Maurice Field were two occasions when Ireland looked set to score tries, but neither yielded anything but frustration. Had Hickie scored, it would have given Ireland a huge psychological lift and provided a huge incentive for a big finish.
Those points having been made, it would be fair to say that the England pack was always the more authoritative unit. And if England's approach was more to subdue than penetrate, it proved a successful formula against an Irish pack that lacked the rhythm and conviction that had proved ao beneficial and effective against Wales. For Ireland, this match was more about containment than authority up front.
The Ireland back row had been disrupted by the departure, after just 12 minutes, of number eight Eric Miller, whose play had been such an important factor in Cardiff a fortnight earlier. He had started well and it was a drive by him that enabled Ireland to take the lead with a penalty from Elwood after 11 minutes.
After Grayson had equalised with his first penalty for England in the 14th minute, Elwood kicked another for Ireland. That was to be Ireland's last score of the match
Referee Colin Hawkes' interprestations were hard to follow at times, but it would be totally false to suggest that Ireland's problems could, in any way, be attributed to any eccentricty shown by the New Zealand official.
By the 26th minute, Elwood, too, had gone. He had sustained a knee injury after he had stubbed his foot in the ground taking a kick at goal in the fifth minute and was patently struggling from that point on, before he surrendered to the inevitable and was replaced by David Humphreys. By then, one had a distinctly uneasy feeling about the match.
Faced by a team of England's physical strength and power, Ireland needed to get the essential breaks and take advantage of every opportunity, not cast it away in a prodigal manner - as Corkery had done with rash impetuosity, and as Anthony Foley, Miller's replacement, had done with a similar needless concession earlier in the game.
England read their brief well and discharged it in the most effective manner. They defended well against Ireland's line out and while Jeremy Davidson was again Ireland's main ball winner Martin Johnson's contribution for England in this area was considerable. England used their superior physical advantage to good effect and their mauling and driving was always better than Ireland could produce.
They had, too, a splendid back row in Lawrence Dallaglio, Tim Rodber, who had an outstanding game, and Richard Hill. Their half backs, Andy Gomersall and Grayson, were never put under the level of pressure that was necessary. Grayson had a particularly good match. His long kicking was in sharp contrast to Ireland's much shorter line kicks, which enabled England to stay in Irish territory.
It was not a match that many in the Irish team can reflect on with satisfaction. The scrum was reasonably solid, but Nick Popplewell was unable to make the kind of contribution he did in Cardiff. Paul Wallace who got a very tough afternoon from Graham Rowntree, and Ross Nesdale was far from pin point in his accuracy with his throwing into the line out. Paddy Johns offered a full hearted effort in support of Davidson but, at times, both were held down craftily by England whose line out tactics worked extremely well. The Irish back row, collectively and individually, did not have a good day.
Hogan is brave to a fault, but the limitations in his passing were again exposed and he was replaced by Brian O'Meara in the 66th minute. Elwood must surely have carried an injury into this match, for he looked uncomfortable from the outset, but his replacement, David Humphreys, did not stake his claim to be the man to face Scotland, if Elwood is unavailable.
Maurice Field and Jonathan Bell did not play badly, but James Topping's defensive inexperience was exposed, as was his lack of subtlety in attack. Hickie made a few mistakes but did reasonably well. Jim Staples, however, hindered by a knee injury from early in the second half, also had his defensive limitations exposed.
As the match moved in to the last quarter of an hour, there was no doubt about who would win, and when Gomsersall exposed Ireland's lack of cover on the short side to score England's second try in the 65th minute and Grayson converted, England led 24-6 and could start to celebrate.
Then came Ireland's phase of folly as possession was lost three times and England ran riot, adding four tries. One cannot excuse Ireland on the grounds that they were chasing the game at that stage - it had been well and truly lost. But they could, with some sensible application, at least have kept the score to respectable proportions.
Instead Hill, Tony Underwood (2) and Sleightholme all got tries, with Grayson converting only one of the four, as England brought in Jeremy Guscott and Austin Healey to be part of the carnival and Ireland's torture.
