From the moment both teams peered out of their windows this
morning, I’m sure any set plans involving running the ball in the wide channels
were abandoned. This was going to be an
all-in brawl in the mud that would be decided by discipline amidst chaos. So, with expectations suitably adjusted, the
game kicked off to a roar of noise supporting the men in green, but it was the
bright-eyed kids in white who were making all the right noises early on. England held onto the ball, which (as Ireland
would find out) would come to resemble an unwanted bar of soap as the match
wore on, ran a few phases and centre Billy Twelvetrees managed to get to ground
to avoid the clutches of the dreaded Irish choke tackle. It meant the Irish tacklers were slow to move
away, and fly-half Owen Farrell punished them with 3 points after a penalty was
called.
The game was already showing signs of becoming a bit of a
scrap. Irish hooker Rory Best missed his
first couple of lineouts, Farrell was lucky to avoid the sin-bin following a
tug on Connor Murray’s shirt when the 9 was chasing a loose ball, Gilroy dropped a
pass under pressure and Ashton hacked ahead.
It gave England territory they couldn’t convert, despite the sharp
efforts around the fringes of Ben Youngs, and gave the crowd the unwelcome
sight of the prodigally talented Simon Zebo leaving the field with what would
transpire to be a broken metatarsal.
Sadly, he won’t be seen again this Championship.
The game erupted following a promising break out by Zebo’s
replacement, Keith Earls. Cian Healy sportingly tried to clean a bit of
mud off Dan Cole’s sock with his studs during a ruck, which started the
inevitable ballroom-dancing-esque shirt grabbing and pulling that constitutes a
‘fight’ in rugby these days. In all
seriousness, Healy – the man surely in possession of a Lions loosehead shirt – was lucky
to not to see a red card. It was an
intentional downward stamp on an ankle joint which could potentially have ended
a season, or even a career. If you want
to punish someone for lying in the way, rake their back like all good flankers have
endured at some point; don’t cowardly target a weak point on a prone
player.
Kicking tennis was becoming the order of the day, but
Ireland were starting to dominate possession and territory – unfortunately for
them though, they were also dominating the statistics for handling errors. Blindside flanker Peter O’Mahoney was a
leading culprit who followed up several big carries with an unforced drop – but
even captain Jamie Heaslip was in on the act.
One area that remained even was the scrum, the momentum of which was
swinging to and fro – the Irish snuck a turnover first of all before England
responded by getting the upper hand and earning several penalties; Cole against
Healy was proving to be a ding-dong battle whilst Marler was starting to take
Ross apart. A lineout followed the
penalty, and a penalty followed the lineout after lock Donnacha Ryan came in
from the side. Farrell was nerveless once
again to take England 6 clear, and to make matters worse for the men in green, Jonathan Sexton limped
from the field with a pulled hamstring just a few minutes later. It remained 6-0 until the end of the half,
with Ireland dominating 63 % of the possession and yet getting no reward – in fact,
Farrell was just wide with an attempt on the stroke of half time to put England
even further out in front. Irish
indiscipline, exemplified by the occasionally out of control O’Mahoney and
Healy, was losing Ireland the game.
It looked as if somebody had turned the set-piece script on
its head at half time. From being second
best in the scrum battle, the Irish front row turned on the power, with Ross
firstly pushing Marler back before Healy forced Cole to lose his bind –
although both England props wouldn’t have appreciated the lack of support they
were getting from their respective flankers.
Munster veteran Ronan O’Gara, now roughly 64 years old, hit a sweetly
struck penalty to get Ireland on the board.
And it wasn’t just
the scrum where the Irish had the upper hand now. Tom Youngs, who had been excellent in the
first half, lost two lineouts on the bounce in a series of miscommunications,
whilst Best went back to basics with his throw and enjoyed a flawless second
period. It was from England’s lost
lineout that James Haskell was sin-binned for kicking the ball whilst “trying
to roll away” – unfortunately for Haskell he is about as subtle as an elephant
doing the River Dance – and O’Gara brought the scores level with a superb
strike.
If this England team, in the future, ever
look for a specific period of time that defined them; in which they came of
age, it will be this next 10 minutes.
With the Dublin crowd working themselves into a frenzy, with Sean O’Brien
trucking over tacklers to make huge yardage and with one man down, this was
backs to the wall stuff. A previous
England side would have folded. This one
stood up and took the game by the scruff off the neck.
Firstly a fizzing pass by Youngs put Farrell into space, and
the Saracens man put in a perfect grubber into the Irish corner, forcing
fullback Rob Kearney to take the ball out of play. From the ensuing lineout, Ireland collapsed
the maul, gifting a penalty and another 3 points, but it was nearly so much
more. Youngs, realising they had the
advantage, dropped a kick over the onrushing Irish defence and Manu Tuilagi, on
for Billy Twelvetrees, was a big Samoan finger away from gathering it for a
game-sealing try. Three minutes later
and another kick put Ireland under pressure, this time from Mike Brown. The Quins’ fullback’s high ball was well
taken by O’Gara but he was clattered by Courtney Lawes and then pinged for
holding on as Brown got his hands in.
Lawes, who had come on for Joe Launchbury, managed to knock himself out
in the process, but Farrell wasn’t too concerned apparently as his boot added
yet another 3 points.
As the game crept on, the Irish started desperately trying
to run it out of their own territory, but the England defence was holding firm. Both sides missed opportunities to add
another 3 points to their score, but by now the end result seemed
inevitable. Neither side had looked like
scoring, but only England had looked like not conceding. The clock struck 80 and Youngs hoofed the
ball into touch bringing an end to a cagey but thoroughly absorbing affair. In the type of game we have become used to at
times in the 6 Nations, this was an abnormal result for the young English
side. They had won for the first time in
a competitive fixture in Dublin for a decade.
Now their challenge, going forward, is to make wins like this 'the norm'. And that's a very comfortable thought indeed for England fans.
For the Irish, it was a dissatisfactory break from the usual
practice of beating in England at home, but at least one man was still
smiling. Congratulations to Brian O’Driscoll,
who became a father hours before the game.
Somehow, even when Ireland loses, he still seems to come out on top.
Ireland Player
Ratings
Kearney – 5 – A very quiet game for the Leinsterman where he
was outshone by his opposite number
Gilroy – 6 – Showed some good touches when he got the ball,
but it wasn’t too often. Kicking might
need work.O'Driscoll – 6 – Rock solid as always in defence, but even the mighty BOD was susceptible to dropping the pill today
D'Arcy – 5 – Defended manfully but couldn’t inject any tempo at all. Cut a lonely figure.
Zebo – Not enough time to make an impact
Sexton – 6 – A couple of solid touch finders were the full extent of his contribution before an unfortunate hamstring injury forced him off
Murray – 7 – Lively and looked up for his battle with Youngs. Set Earls away on a good break and gave decent service considering the conditions
Healy – 6 – Ignoring the horrendous stamp, his tussle with Cole was absorbing – lost the first half, won the second. No real impact in the loose for once.
Best – 7 – A couple of shakey lineouts early on were forgotten about and improved as the game went on. Good work in defence, too.
Ross – 6 – Like Healy, ended on a high after suffering a difficult first half. Still not enough of him in the loose.
McCarthy – 5 – Defended with his customary aggression but was unfortunately was one of the chief suspects in the ball-dropping brigade
Ryan – 6 – Big performance in the loose but did give away a
couple of important penalties
O'Mahony – 7 – Despite a couple of drops, he carried hard
and made plenty of metres. Needs to keep
a lid on his aggression though.O'Brien – 8 – Ireland’s best player. A couple of huge carries from deep got Ireland on the front foot in the second half and worked his socks off in defence.
Heaslip – 5 – This is the second match where the Irish captain has been ineffectual on the carry, which is concerning. Also struggled to keep a hold on his team’s discipline.
Replacements used :
Cronin – Not enough time to make an impact
Kilcoyne – Not enough time to make an impactFitzgerald – Not enough time to make an impact
Henry – Not enough time to make an impact
O'Callaghan – Not enough time to make an impact
O’Gara – 5 – He kicked his goals well but his kicking from hand was fairly underpowered.
Earls – 7 – Showed up well with a couple of sharp breaks.
England Player
Ratings
Goode – 7 – Dealt with the high ball very well and showed up
a couple of times in attack too
Ashton – 6 – Not really the right sort of game for ‘Flash.’ Struggled to get involved but a good kick
chase did earn a penalty. Barritt – 6 – Matched his illustrious opposite blow for blow in defence but couldn’t get his hands on the ball.
Twelvetrees – 6 – Did nothing wrong as such, but had no impact as ball to him was invariably slow.
Brown – 7 – Much better from the Harlequins man, showing up well under the high ball and running the ball back with real purpose
Farrell – 8 – Kicked well from hand and tee throughout – last week was a game to show off his hands, but this was about calmness under pressure.
B Youngs – 8 – A fine performance. Banished his Dublin nightmares with a mature showing of good service and intelligent kicking – this was the game he became ‘the general’ all 9s should be. Man of the Match.
Marler – 7 – Showed up well in the first half in the scrum and threw himself into tackles
T Youngs – 6 – Enjoyed an excellent first period where he was at the top of the tackle charts before lineout suffered a couple of lapses after the break.
Cole – 6 – Came out just about honours even with Healy after being on the backfoot in the second 40. Will be grateful he still has an ankle.
Launchbury – 6 – The first game he hasn’t shone, but the game wasn’t quick enough for him to show off his mobility
Parling – 7 – Did well to nab a couple of lineouts and showed up well in the loose. Seems to always make more yards than he should.
Haskell – 7 – Sin-binning aside, he was exactly what England needed him to be – abrasive and physical. Was a bundle of energy throughout.
Robshaw – 8 – Yet another big performance from the England captain. Led from the front when things were getting dicey. He just doesn’t seem to have bad games.
Wood – 7 – Dealt with being out of position very well and got about the field effectively, slowing Irish ball down with regularity.
Replacements used:
Hartley – 7 – Steadied the ship in the lineout well and
carried on Youngs’ good work in the loose.
Will be pushing for a starting spot.Vunipola – 6 – Solid in the scrum and put in some big hits in defence.
Wilson – Not enough time to have an impact.,
Lawes – 7 – Another big cameo from the Northampton man. Not on for long but tackled the opposition with such ferocity he couldn’t get up – literally
Waldrom – Not enough time to have an impact.
Tuilagi – 6 – Saw little ball in hand but smashed his rucks and was strong in defence. Nearly scored a try but needs longer arms.
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