Damage Done In First Half As Ireland Endure Disappointing Twickenham Defeat

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell admitted ‘the scoreline flattered us in the end’ such was England’s dominance for much of this Guinness Six Nations encounter at Twickenham Stadium.

Converted tries from George Ford and Elliot Daly, both from dangerous kicks which the visitors failed to deal with, had England 17-0 ahead at half-time. Luke Cowan-Dickie’s 61st-minute maul effort sealed their third straight win over Ireland in the space of 13 months.

However, Farrell’s men did manage to book-end the second half with tries from Robbie Henshaw and Andrew Porter – the young prop’s first at international level – and the likes of Caelan Doris, John Cooney and the returning Keith Earls impressed off the bench.

With his Ireland team now third in the table, level on nine points with England, and unbeaten France four clear, Farrell said: “It was nice to get over for the try at the end and get the points on the board because points difference is going to be really important as the competition goes on. The pleasing thing is we’re still in it, aren’t we?

“We will take the learnings and the hurt as well. We will take the disappointment. We go on to Italy (in two weeks’ time) needing a good performance and hopefully, we can get that against Italy. Hopefully, it all goes down to the last game away to France.”

On his side’s performance in London, he conceded: “We compounded a few errors, didn’t we in the first half? The second half started off a little bit better and I suppose we started to fire a few shots towards the end when the game was over, but the scoreline flattered us in the end.

“It looked like that (we were a little shocked by England’s start) and I’ll take responsibility for that. Obviously that’s to do with preparation, belief, the want and the bit of gristle that we’ve talked about in the last couple of weeks. It was lacking a little bit in the first half.

“You’ve got to deal with moments during the game. I suppose England were having a few good moments, their confidence was sky high but we regrouped at half-time and we started the second half pretty well with a bit of intent. A good side like they are they came back, but we finished the game off strong.”

Cian Healy laid down an early marker by sending Sam Underhill backwards in a thumping tackle, but England won their first two contestable kicks and a dink in behind by Daly had Conor Murray scrambling back towards the Irish try-line.

The hosts held onto that territorial advantage, Manu Tuilagi crashing through in midfield and then threatening out wide. The breakthrough came in the seventh minute, Ben Youngs’ excellently threaded kick exposing the Irish back-field and a Jonathan Sexton fumble allowed his opposite number Ford to swoop in to score.

After watching his English counterpart Owen Farrell dispatch the conversion for 7-0, Sexton miscued a 14th-minute penalty attempt which should have netted points on the back of Ireland’s first visit to the opposition 22.

England also lost a promising lineout position with Peter O’Mahony getting up to pressurise man-of-the-match Courtney Lawes into a knock-on. Yet, with Murray failing to find touch, Jonathan Joseph was able to glide through midfield and a ruck penalty against O’Mahony gave the home side further traction in try-scoring range.

That score duly arrived from another well-executed kick in behind, Ford’s delivery over the top of the defence catching out Jacob Stockdale and Daly reached out to ground the ball successfully before the end line. Following TMO confirmation, Farrell added the extras for a 14-0 lead.

A jarred hip ended Healy’s afternoon prematurely, and Ireland continued to struggle in his absence. Apart from Bundee Aki’s turnover penalty, a physically-dominant England kept winning the mini battles with George Kruis disrupting the lineout and the ever-influential Maro Itoje charging down a Murray kick.

Using turnover ball, Youngs clipped another intelligent kick through for Joseph to claim ahead of Andrew Conway, and with Ireland caught offside soon after, Farrell knocked over the 25-metre penalty to leave 17 points between the sides at the break.

The early stages of the second period were encouraging for Ireland, the forwards gaining ground with England leaking a trio of penalties, including one at scrum time. O’Mahony pierced through to a few metres out before Henshaw took a nice line onto a Murray pass to crash over between Tom Curry and Farrell.

The centre’s second try in his last four Tests provided a timely boost, although Sexton was wayward with his conversion from the right. Frustratingly, Ireland got stuck in their own 22 approaching the hour mark, losing scrappy set-piece ball and then conceding scrum and maul penalties.

England made the possession and territory count with a powerful maul try from replacement hooker Cowan-Dickie, converted again by Farrell. A May breakaway up the right wing had the men in white hunting down the bonus point, but it was Ireland who ended the match on the front foot.

An O’Mahony lineout steal kept them pressing in the English half, with recent debutant Doris soon exploiting some space along the left wing. Stockdale did likewise off a lovely pass from Earls, and Cooney was up in support on both occasions to take play into the 22.

After England had secured turnover ball, good work at the breakdown from CJ Stander and Ronan Kelleher sent Ireland forward from a penalty. Dave Kilcoyne, Kelleher and Stander produced forceful carries before Porter drove in under Underhill and Cowan-Dickie for a well-taken score which Cooney neatly converted.