England 16 Ireland 20:IN THE pantheon of great Irish wins at Twickenham, and three of the 13 have come in the last four visits, this was right up there. It was a classic, smash-and-grab away performance. Soak, soak and soak, strike, strike and strike again. In the final analysis, three tries to one brooks no argument.
Admittedly the third strike still didn’t do for England, and there was still some heart-stopping soaking to be done in the taut endgame, but that comes with the territory in this RBS Six Nations – where thrilling finales are de rigeur. Besides, that only made it better. The smarter, braver and classier side prevailed.
Admittedly, they lived off scraps and they had to absorb a fair amount of pressure, but their ferocity in the tackle and at the breakdown was ably reflected in that extraordinary match statistic of 99 tackles made with just one missed. Heaven help the poor lad who missed the one.
Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip were both colossal in contact, putting their bodies on the line continually and even though referee Mark Lawrence appeared to allow less of a contest at the breakdown – and certainly afforded England more space for their pick-and-go drives than most referees might have – Ireland still manufactured eight turnovers to one.
One of these led to the first try, and also showed how Ireland selectively ran the ball. Keith Earls, Cian Healy and Gordon D’Arcy snaffled Jonny Wilkinson as he tried to retrieve a pass along the deck from a pressurised Danny Care and as is his wont, Brian O’Driscoll went in to secure possession. Off turnover ball and with numbers, regardless there was only four minutes on the clock and it had been all England, running the ball from inside their own 10-metre lines was on.
After excellent hands by Ferris and a gallop by Heaslip, cue Jonathan Sexton. With almost his first meaningful touch in Six Nations rugby, to weigh up his options on the run, spot that Tommy Bowe was faced by Lewis Moody outside and execute the ensuing grubber with absolute precision, was quite something.
At a stroke, his selection was vindicated, and thereafter so too was every selection and tactical choice made by Declan Kidney and his think tank. Not only providing a cutting edge in that moment which would be beyond Wilkinson over the 80 minutes, Sexton kicked better than Wilkinson too as he carried out the gameplan to perfection.
D’Arcy, O’Driscoll and the outstanding Bowe chased hard for well-measured kicks which constantly kept the England back three under pressure, especially Delon Armitage, who looks short of confidence and a scarcely recogniseable shadow of the player he was threatening to become last season. By contrast, Geordan Murphy came through the 80 minutes in cruise control. A second game in five months? No bother to him. Class is permanent. On a dreadful day for fullbacks, apart from one spillage he was well nigh foot and hand perfect. It helped mind, that, curiously, England’s kick-and-chase game was ill-conceived and badly executed.
On the wing, Earls flourished. Always hungry and always involved, his performance was rewarded when he held his width and depth like a natural-born winger – which he isn’t – to score off Sexton’s superb flat pass.
If Kidney was vindicated in those three calls, ditto Donncha O’Callaghan, whose physicality in defence especially was an absolute necessity on the day. It also seemed to help Paul O’Connell rediscover himself. That said, O’Callaghan’s over-eagerness saw him stray offside a couple of times, where Lawrence was especially hot on the hindmost foot law.
If only more referees were like him, and save for a ridiculous penalty against Heaslip when Ugo Monye planted his studs into the Ireland number eight’s chest, his positive influence and superb communication underlined the South African’s status as one of the world’s best referees.
Yet, given they had the better lineout, the better backrow, outhalf and back three, had Ireland lost they would have reflected on the way England’s rumbling chariot of forwards retained possession, and on their discipline; for with John Hayes’s scrimmaging also edging toward a yellow card, the 14-6 penalty count threatened to undo much of Ireland’s good work.
So too did a triple whammy from which most teams would not have recovered, particularly away from home. First, Dan “The Mole” Cole burrowed over – in a game of inches it was the only way England could score. Then, Ireland lost their talisman O’Driscoll to a sickening collision with O’Connell’s knee.
Finally Jonny boy did his drop-goal routine and Swing Low echoed around the stadium, Ireland’s goose looked cooked.
In those circumstances, to go down the pitch and win the game again was quite an achievement, Kidney cleverly emptied the bench, Ronan O’Gara pinned England back, Leo Cullen put their lineout under pressure again and Shane Jennings led the charge in cutting off Wilkinson’s angle for the touchline.
Even better followed with Tomás O’Leary’s arcing run in field, Fourie du Preez-like, and Bowe’s stunning line – JP Pietersen-like as against the Lions – inside Wilkinson, away from James Haskell and stepping the hapless Monye.
That underlined the value of experience on the bench, but Kidney was even vindicated in his choice of Tony Buckley, for the big man almost held up that ominous late England maul on his own before then locking the ensuing defensive scrum. Even O’Gara was flinging himself around in the slightly manic final seconds before Healy, another huge performer, engineered the final steal.
Suddenly, the only chants were of “Ire-land, Ire-land”. A beautiful sound. You could never tire of it. Least of all here.
Match Statistics
SCORING SEQUENCE:
4 mins: Bowe try 0-5; 16: Wilkinson pen 3-5; 29 mins: Sexton pen 3-8; 37: Wilkinson pens 6-8; (Half-time 6-8); 56: Earls try 6-13; 61: Cole try, Wilkinson con 13-13; 71: Wilkinson drop goal 16-13; 75: Bowe try, O’Gara con 16-20.
ENGLAND:D Armitage (London Irish); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tait (Sale Sharks), R Flutey (CA Brive), U Monye (Harlequins); J Wilkinson (RC Toulon), D Care (Harlequins); T Payne (London Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), S Shaw (London Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, captain), J Haskell (Stade Français), L Moody (Leicester Tigers), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements:L Deacon (Leicester Tigers) for Shaw (4 mins), B Foden (Northampton Saints) for Armitgage (49 mins), J Worsley (London Wasps) for Moody (55 mins), L Mears (Bath Rugby) for Hartley (64 mins), D Wilson (Bath Rugby) for Cole (73 mins), P Hodgson (London Irish) for Care (both 73 mins). Not used: T Flood (Leicester Tigers).
IRELAND:G Murphy (Leicester Tigers); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), K Earls ( Munster); J Sexton (Leinster), T O'Leary (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan ( Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements:T Buckley (Munster) for Hayes (63 mins), A Trimble (Ulster) for O'Driscoll (64 mins), R O'Gara (Munster) for Sexton, L Cullen (Leinster) for O'Callaghan (both 69 mins), S Jennings (Leinster) for Wallace (70 mins). Not Used: S Cronin, E Reddan.
Referee:M Lawrence (South Africa).
