Ireland pulled away from 14-man England with two late tries at Twickenham
(Picture: AP)Quite how England would have fared with 15 players is anyone’s guess.
But the 14 of this new-look team who remained after Charlie Ewels’ 82-second red card produced the sort of coming-of-age performance that Eddie Jones had warned was coming.
In the end, it wasn’t quite enough but a win that had first looked impossible, then improbable and finally infinitely possible going into the final quarter eventually evaded England in the dying minutes. The 32-15 scoreline in Ireland’s favour courtesy of two late tries was not really a true reflection of the match.
With that result, hopes of a Six Nations title have gone and the very real prospect awaits that England might end up in fifth place for a second successive championship with a trip to Paris against Grand Slam-chasing France to come next weekend.
And yet those who had roared every won scrum, lineout and penalty – each one as unlikely as the next with Jack Nowell playing much of the match at flanker – witnessed a Six Nations classic which very nearly turned into a Great Escape for the hosts.
England’s forward dominance was all the more impressive without Tom Curry, hobbling off the field with a hamstring injury, and Kyle Sinckler not returning to the field for the second half after failing his head injury assessment.
Maro Itoje, who was only declared fit to play an hour before the game after coming down with a sickness bug on Thursday night, was immense all over the park, as were Jamie George and Ellis Genge.
And Marcus Smith, so often heralded for his attacking flair, was pivotal in the point scoring, both with his spot-kicks but also the precision of his high balls which Ireland struggled to contend with.
And yet it was his opposite number Johnny Sexton, in his last performance at Twickenham before retiring after the World Cup, who found himself on the winning side.
England head coach Jones had asked his players to get in the faces of the Irish but Ewels took that rather too literally, leading with his head in tackling James Ryan to be sent off.
It was the swiftest red card in the tournament’s history and looked in danger of killing the game as Ireland quickly made their player advantage count as James Lowe ran in with the easiest of overlaps.
Caelan Doris added another in exactly the same position not long after, a score which was disallowed after a knock-on by Jamison Gibson-Park forced by Itoje.
From there for the remainder of the first half, the visitors simply weren’t clinical enough bar a try late on from Hugo Keenan when England were essentially reduced to 13 with Sinckler having gone down.
Instead, England played to their strengths while nullifying those of Ireland, most notably in the set-piece even with the departure of Curry to be replaced by Alex Dombrandt, just eight days after the Harlequins man had tested positive for Covid.
Jones had once suggested that Nowell might have a future as a flanker and, on the evidence of this match, it seemed less outlandish as England proved the stronger in the scrums with their makeshift back-rower.
That scrum dominance forced a high penalty count and England could even have taken an unlikely lead had they not opted for touch from a kickable position and Smith not missed a spot-kick.
As it was, he added two more spot-kicks for a 9-15 scoreline they only could have dreamed of 90 seconds earlier.
The last time Ireland had led at half-time against England and lost was all the way back in 1996 and, yet somehow, going into the final quarter of the match, England found themselves level courtesy of two Smith penalties.
Such levelling up was as much down to Irish errors as anything England threw at them but, with each scrum, lineout and high ball – habitually strengths of the Irish – Ireland looked rushed and more like the side missing a player from their ranks.
England, for their part, lapped up every won penalty or scrum as though having done something infinitely grander, and the Twickenham faithful simply lapped it up.
The lead, though, was short-lived as Sexton scored Ireland’s first points of the second half with 15 minutes remaining and, with nine minutes on the clock, England’s resolve finally cracked with a third Irish try from Jack Conan.
For the first time after a remarkable preceding 70 minutes, England finally looked tired, running out of tacklers and the necessary energy to fend off the sea of green.
It almost seemed inevitable that another try would come and so it did as another replacement, Finlay Bealham, added a try for a scoreline which flattered Ireland and did not really tell the whole story.
