LONDON — The Six Nations which was meant to be England’s awakening, has in the space of a week become a nightmare. Ireland’s record 42-21 victory was testament to their precision and brilliantly executed gameplan, while England looked at times confused and lost.
The pitch must have looked vast for England as the fundamental, non-negotiable foundations of their game crumbled. Their discipline was shoddy, their lineout wayward and defence porous. It was no way to mark Maro Itoje’s 100th England cap. On the opposite side, Ireland laughed in the faces of those who thought we’d started to see signs of their decline, running in five tries for a record win at Twickenham and keeping their hat in the ring for another Six Nations title.
After 30 minutes, Ireland were in a 22-0 lead; close your eyes and it sounded like this match was being played in Dublin. England were stuck in this green stranglehold, partly by their own doing, and Ireland’s grip was unrelenting. Just when it looked like there might be an English fightback there was a dropped ball, a lax penalty conceded or a brilliant piece of Irish defensive work to shift momentum back into the visitor’s grasp, and calm was restored.
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The narrative heading into this match was around Itoje’s 100th cap and Henry Pollock’s first Test start, but what was crucial was the need for England to put in a performance after their disastrous trip to Murrayfield last week where they lost 31-20 to Scotland.
The scene was set: the emotion of Itoje’s century, Pollock’s impetus from the off, Tommy Freeman back on the wing and back at home, a place they last lost at in November 2024. And it was Ireland coming to town, who were hammered by France, and edged past Italy last week but had their scrum dismantled to the extent Tadhg Furlong was hoisted into the air by the power of the Italian front-row. Coupled with the ongoing fly-half debate, the jettisoning of Sam Prendergast and the chips all-in on Jack Crowley, and this looked to be one where England were favourites.
But then came the first 14 minutes. England had attacking territory and chances to score, but came up short. And this was off the back of a malfunctioning lineout, and uncharacteristic errors — George Ford failed to find touch, twice — firstly under clubbing a kick to the corner and then kicking it dead. It was a portent of what’s to come.
England’s lineout completely malfunctioned in the first half, leading to Luke Cowan-Dickie to be hooked after just 30 minutes. By that stage, England had conceded two tries — first the outstanding Jamison Gibson-Park quick-tapped a penalty and glided into the corner virtually untroubled, and then in the 26th minute Robert Baloucoune danced over after a brilliant Stuart McCloskey break. Freddie Steward was sin-binned, the referee was forced off injured, departing by saying: “I’m out, my body’s gone. Best of luck for the rest of the game.”
But there was no fortune for England as Tommy O’Brien exploited further indecision in the host’s defence to score in the 29th minute, and after Ford’s successful kicks to touch were greeted with sarcastic cheers, Steward was hooked seconds after returning for Marcus Smith. England managed a consolation score before half time, through Fraser Dingwall, and there was that wonderfully tantalising glimmer of hope.
But it had been brutal for England. It was new ground for Steve Borthwick to make two first-half tactical switches, and any hopes of a fightback were soon extinguished just a few seconds into the second half with Henry Pollock sin-binned, Dan Sheehan scoring in the 42nd minute and that was the game.
“England look genuinely lost,” World Cup-winning fly-half Paul Grayson said on BBC 5 Live. Perfectly put. England would end up grabbing two further second-half scores through Ollie Lawrence and Sam Underhill, but Jamie Osborne had grabbed Ireland’s fifth and the resulting 21-point victory was far from flattering.
Ireland have built through this championship. After the dismantling in Paris, they showed a steely resolve to edge past Italy, but this was sublime. The five changes Andy Farrell made all paid off, and though his front-row was bullied in the first-half, the introduction of Finlay Bealham brought some steel there. Caelan Doris led the team brilliantly, McCloskey was again astonishingly influential at inside centre with the likes of James Ryan and Robert Baloucoune all immense. Jack Crowley was calm and precise at fly-half but their star man was Jamison Gibson-Park, the scrum-half had the game on a piece of string.
“It’s a special day,” Farrell said afterwards. “We’re delighted with that, but even more so for us, the respect the lads showed for one another was immense. The respect they showed for the jersey and Irish people — they’ve learnt some lessons and grown as a group.” Farrell was delighted with the fight and spirit shown by the team, highlighting McCloskey’s incredible trackback to halt a sprinting Marcus Smith in the 72nd minute with the game already long gone.
For England, well, this shatters any hope they were growing match on match. They came into this championship as one of the two favourites, along with France. They dominated Wales, but were then picked apart by Scotland. Ireland replicated several of Scotland’s tactics, attacking England’s two 15-metre channels, and picking off space through the No.13 channel. They got stuck into England’s set piece, and prevailed. England had no answers.
The bench is not making the same impact we saw in November, and their defence is disorganised and gifting the opposition far too many opportunities. England have a fortnight to get things right as they prepare for Italy in Rome or they will be going to Paris with just one win from four.
This was a historic, wonderful day for Ireland. The sort of afternoon that will stay long in the memory and close to the heart. For England, this was an alarming afternoon and the most brutal of reality checks.
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