RUGBY/'A' International... Ireland 24 England 21: Ireland deprived England of one Grand Slam this weekend before a 6,000 crowd at Donnybrook last night, writes John O'Sullivan at Donnybrook.
The visitors had won their three previous internationals at this level - Wales no longer take part - but floundered against an Irish side that refused to bow and ultimately outlasted their rivals.
The match enjoyed a double twist in injury time; England outhalf Alex King levelling matters at 21-21 with a simple penalty before Ireland full back Mark McHugh replied with a marvellous strike from the halfway line with the last kick of the game to decide the issue. It will be of small consolation to the visitors that they still won the A championship.
For long periods of the match England played the superior rugby, but courageous defence and a little bit of good fortune limited England to just a brace of tries from excellent full back Dan Scarbrough.
Ireland scored two tries of their own, the first from dynamic hooker Paul Shields and the second a brilliant piece of finishing from Tyrone Howe. The Irish pack was largely excellent but replacement Aidan McCullen, Kieron Dawson, Emmet Byrne and Simon Easterby stood out. Behind the scrum, Howe was Ireland's outstanding back and the centre partnership and McHugh all had a big second half.
England will rue the fact that they didn't display a little more patience, they were often guilty of trying too much out of the tackle.
The first half was almost exclusively dominated by the whistle of Scottish referee Gregg Davies who ran the gamut of possible infringements: crooked in, foot-up, encroaching at a lineout, offside, not releasing, handling in the ruck and sundry others that were less easy to discern.
England fully deserved their interval lead of 13-8, having shown greater continuity, width and penetration and could have added to their two try tally in that period but for some excellent Irish defence. As it has been in most games this season, the Irish back row were particularly prominent.
The home side were unfortunate in losing number eight Des Dillon after 13 minutes with medial knee ligament damage and the suggestion is that he could be out for six weeks. Ireland started impressively, recycling on several occasions before right wing James Topping's clever chip was pounced on by hooker Shields to score in the corner.
England largely took over the game for the next 20 minutes and after replacement Ollie Barkley kicked a penalty, the man whom he had come on for temporarily, King, added a second on 26 minutes. The home side needed try-saving tackles from Easterby and David Quinlan to stay in touch but the defence was finally breached on 31 minutes when the impressive Scarbrough won the race to a chip through to touch down. King's conversion might not have been pretty but it was effective and the visitors edged out to 13-5.
O'Meara kicked a penalty either side of half-time to bring Ireland back to 13-11 down, the second after excellent work by first Aidan McCullen and then Easterby. It was England, though, who demonstrated the value of using the width of the pitch in switching play to one side then another, albeit facilitated by a couple of missed tackles, and their pressure finally told when Scarbrough stepped inside a tackle to score in the corner.
Ireland struck back through an O'Meara penalty to reduce the deficit to 18-14 but immediately conceded the initiative with a couple of mistakes. England let the home side off the hook this time with a handling error not more than 10 metres from the Irish line.
The Irish pack was making yardage but there was precious little invention from the backs other than taking the ball up the middle. There could be no doubting Ireland's scavenging qualities with Byrne, Shields and Donncha O'Callaghan particularly effective. Mike Mullins and Howe were proving a handful for the visitors physically.
The home side got the reward their momentum deserved on 73 minutes. McHugh returned a loose England clearance and from the ruck, passes by Everitt and then Quinlan found their way to Howe. The Ulster wing glided through a gap and showed great speed initially, and then had the strength to negotiate the final 30 metres.
O'Meara's conversion looked to have given Ireland the victory but Davies awarded England a penalty three minutes into injury time and King converted from 18 metres. The drama was not finished yet, a full six minutes into stoppage time England were penalised and from the half way line McHugh landed the decisive blow, via an upright.
A magnificent strike and a great win.
SCORING SEQUENCE.
1 min: Shields try, 5-0; 8: Barkley pen, 5-3; 26: King pen, 5-6; 31: Scarbrough try, King con, 5-13; 39: O'Meara pen, 8-13. Half-time: 8-13. 49: O'Meara pen, 11-13; 52: Scarbrough try, 11-18; 55: O'Meara pen, 14-18; 73: Howe try, O'Meara con, 21-18; 83: King pen, 21-21; 86: McHugh pen, 24-21.
IRELAND: M McHugh (Connacht); J Topping (Ulster), M Mullins (Munster), D Quinlan (Leinster), T Howe (Ulster); B Everitt (London Irish), B O'Meara (Leinster); E Byrne (Leinster), P Shields (Ulster), S Best (Ulster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), J Davidson (Ulster, capt); S Easterby (Llanelli), D Dillon (Leinster), K Dawson (London Irish). Replacements: A McCullen (Leinster) for Dillon 13 mins; A Horgan (Munster) for Topping half-time; P Bracken (Connacht) for Best 70 mins; M O'Driscoll (Munster) for O'Callaghan 71 mins.
ENGLAND: D Scarbrough (Leeds); P Christophers (Bristol), F Waters (Wasps), B Johnston (Saracens), M Cueto (Sale); A King (Wasps), N Walshe (Sale); M Worsley (London Irish), M Regan (Leeds), R Morris (Northampton); S Shaw (Wasps), C Jones (Sale); M Corry (Leicester, capt), J Forrester (Gloucester), A Vander (Bath). Replacements: O Barkley (Bath) for King 6-17 mins; M Fitzgerald (Biarritz) for Morris 18-21 mins; H Vyvyan (Newcastle) for Vander 40 mins; T Palmer (Leeds) for Jones 69 mins; A Titterell (Sale) for Regan 75 mins; M Stephenson (Newcastle) for Waters 76 mins; M Fitzgerald (Biarritz) for Worsley 81 mins.
Referee: G Davies (Scotland)
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