“The pass to Lowe that led to 27 points on the board was obviously forward. Do officials simply lack the courage to call it?” asks Gary Moors.
A bit like feeding the scrum, it’s definitely the case that forward passes are being treated a bit differently these days. However, often the passes are backwards out of the hands, which is what the law states is the test not where the person ends up catching it. I’d have to look again at this one specifically though.
The same questions remain for England, and having watched them for the last twelve it’s difficult to know how they solve it. It’s not personnel, and for large parts of matches they are on top, the fading in the second half can’t be about fitness can it? If it is that’s unforgivable.
Having said all that, Ireland have enough ability and muscle memory to turn on enough class to take a game away even if they are not playing their best, which is exactly what happened here.
There will be some chatter about ref decisions. You should ignore it as that wasn’t why the game ended with this result.
FULL TIME! IRELAND WIN IN DUBLIN 27-22.
A storming second half from the home side puts a fading England away.
TRY! Ireland 27 - 22 England (Tommy Freeman)
81 mins. The lineout is won scrappily and Crowley misses a tackle on Dan that allows him to feed Freeman on an angled run to cross from 10 metres out.
That will give England a losing bonus point, which is genuinely a positive given what this second half has been like for them.
79 mins. England have the ball in their own half and work it into a penalty on halfway. This will delay the inevitable for a few minutes more.
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77 mins. There was a lot of talk in the build up about England’s bench being bigger and more impactful than Ireland’s. That analysis was more wrong than every US electoral poll of the past decade. The green bench contribution has smoked the visitors.
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TRY! Ireland 27 - 15 England (Tom Curry)
75 mins. Ollie Laawrence bumps two tackles and offloads to Murley who finds Curry on an inside support line.
Conversion missed. Not that it matters at this stage.
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TRY! Ireland 27 - 10 England (Dan Sheehan)
72 mins. The scrum comes to little for Ireland and the ball is back in England hands, but not for long as the home side move into midfield and a delightful pop pass from Sheehan puts Conan through a gap and into open pasture. He looks about him before flinging it left to Sheehan once more who finds Lowe, then follows up his pass with a support run to receive it again, ram up to the line and stretch out to score.
Magic from the replacement hooker.
Updated
68 mins. Cadan Murley makes a howler by picking a ball up in his own in-goal that has rolled in there from a Crowley kick. So instead of dabbing down for a drop-out he gives Ireland a 5m scrum when he’s tackled over his own line. That’s the second bit of defensive dreck from the debutant.
65 mins. That really was a wonderful call and execution by Lowe that feels like it’s won the game for his side. England looked shellshocked and increasingly lacking in discipline.
TRY! Ireland 20 - 10 England (Tadhg Beirne)
64 mins. From the base of the ruck the ball is passed short to Lowe who comes deep on a lovely angle while being screened by his team mates. All of this results in the big winger running free and bearing down on Steward to pop to Beirne is support to score.
Conversion added.
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62 mins. England have a free kick on halfway that Smith boots up in the air for Keenan to claim and Cunningham-South mistimes his tackle before the Ireland fullback returns to ground. It wasn’t egregious in any way, but it’s correctly a penalty to Ireland.
60 mins. Most of the subs benches have been emptied, which means England have now played all their big lad impact cards as the last quarter starts and Ireland have Jack Crowley on to shepherd them home. It’s deliciously poised.
58 mins. Some possession for England in the Irish half from a lineout doesn’t produce much and forces Smith to put a speculative kick up, but Henshaw claims the bouncing ball well to diffuse the threat.
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PENALTY! Ireland 13 - 10 England (Sam Prendergast)
55 mins. England have had a couple of promising positions ruined by some poor discipline, the second of which is within range for young Sam.
England’s penalties could very well be their undoing, they’ve conceded twice as many as Ireland.
TRY! Ireland 10 - 10 England (Bundee Aki)
52 mins. Sometime rugby is a simple game: you give the ball to fast and massive bloke and tell him to run as hard as he can at a defender to skittle him and score. That’s what happened here with Aki vs Marcus Smith on the left touchline.
Conversion is missed.
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49 mins. Another lineout, another possession for Ireland that they drive up to the line but this time England stop it without infringing by forcing the ball to be spilled forward. The visitors win the scrum and clear from their own 5m line. That feels big for both sides; another visit to the England 22 that results in zero points for Ireland.
47 mins. The scrum is won by the home side and the ball is flung left via two huge looping passes to Lowe, who is stopped by Freeman this time. The whistle goes as advantage was being played and as the play stops there’s cracking bit of pasty as six players from each side have a rumble on the ground.
The ref gives the captains a talking to about packing it in and getting on with the game.
Updated
45 mins. Murley makes a mess of defending a big kick on the turn by playing it backwards off his hand which means he can’t allow it to go dead. The result being he gets caught close to his line and hauled over by the Ireland chasing defence which means a huge five metre Ireland scrum incoming.
43 mins. The lineout is won snappily and Smith carries it up and takes contact. The recycle is equally pacy and England get plenty of offloads going, but one of them drifts forward and then Genge is penalised at the resulting scrum.
41 mins. Murley grips Keenan as he gathers a kick and Tom Curry somehow rips the ball out of the ruck with one hand. Penalty to England that gives them a lineout in the Irish half.
Second Half!
England receive the kick off to start the next forty.
A fascinating half that has gone some way to addressing the questions posed pre-game.
England’s defence is better and leaving less gaps, but the cost of it has been penalties in the 22; if they don’t arrest that leakage then they are going to lose the game. The attack is better though and the gameplan has been spot on so far and will glean more points in the second half unless Ireland change it up.
Ireland’s attack looks improved, but runs out of steam and crucially ideas when the opposition re-organise; while their kicking game has been woeful. Won’t take much to tweak and fix, however.
There are some incredibly important half-time talks happening right now, because this game is on a knife edge.
Half Time!
PEEEEEP! That’ll do for the first half.
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PENALTY! Ireland 5 - 10 England (Marcus Smith)
40 mins. From a lineout just inside their own half England move the ball quickly into midfield to Ben Earl to have a run. He’s stopped but the attack continues and two phases later it’s Earl again this time breaking through a gap and driving into the Ireland 22.
The home side scramble but they are offside which is all the invitation Smith needs to extend the lead.
37 mins. Marcus Smith is back on.
TRY! Ireland 5 - 7 England (Jamison Gibson-Park)
35 mins. James Lowe runs at Mitchell and the England scrum-half goes too high which means Lowe can use his ten-bears strength to get away and pop inside to Gibson-Park who puts in a delightful sidestep to get past Steward and score.
Conversion goes wide.
Updated
34 mins. Possession is won again by Ireland and they are working the phases in the 22. However, it’s all a bit low in tempo and tending to the lateral which allows England to get amongst it and spoil, legally this time, and Mitchell to kick clear to touch.
32 mins. There are three minutes left of Smith’s sin-bin, and England are hanging on as Ireland dominate territory and the visitors are repeatedly penalised. The latest of which is despatched to touch for another lineout attack.
30 mins. Another attack up the right from the home side is this time brought to a halt by Tom Curry getting his hands on the ball. It gives some brief respite, but Ireland are soon back at them as they return to the 22 via a Prendergast runaround that finds Lowe. But England again do enough to spoil possession and win the ball at the ruck.
26 mins. Ireland go for the corner rather than points and despite winning the lineout they cannot capitalise as England get amongst their ruck and win a penalty.
YELLOW CARD! Marcus Smith (England)
24 mins. No sooner had I written that last post then Beirne won a brilliant turnover in his own half and Ireland flew up the right side of the pitch via the returned Mack Hansen. He finds Baird who lollops powerfully towards the line with two defenders hanging off him. As the ball recycles Smith is 4.25 miles offside and, as per the previous warning by Ref 0’Keefe, he’s off for ten minutes.
22 mins. England have a clear plan to kick from deep, asking Ireland recently misfiring attack to beat them from deep and this plus Prendergast’s poor kicking is causing problems for the home side. Alloyed to this the visitors are moving the ball quickly when they are in better territorial positions. So far this has put Borthwick’s team on top.
20 mins. Another promising England attack has the ball in Freeman’s hands on the right touchline, he’s about to open up and bear down on Keenan but for Aki putting in an important tap tackle that knocks the winger off his stride. This forces him to attempt a kick but it squirts into touch.
18 mins. Itoje reads a pass from Prendergast to Bealham and his tackle sends the ball loose which allows England to get away in behind via Slade and Freeman with the line beckoning. But there’s aural agony for the visitors as the ref’s whistle pierces their excitement due to Itoje having knocked the ball on in the tackle.
DISALLOWED TRY! Ireland 0 - 7 England (Ronan Kelleher)
16 mins. Ireland go for the tap and go again and this time it’s more successful as two phases later Kelleher is over the line.
But wait! Tadhg Beirne has been spotted holding Itoje in the ruck and that prevented the England Captain getting to Kelleher. NO TRY!
An absolute classic bit of forward naughtiness from Beirne there, which he would have got away with in the non-snitching era.
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15 mins. The home side don’t fancy another lineout and try a tap and go that results in them going backwards 20 metres due to their imprecision. But, England are penalised again, this time for diving over the ruck.
Ref O’Keefe is already having a work with Itoje that another penalty this close to the line is going be a card.
13 mins. Ireland have woken up finally and are deep in English territory winning a lineout. They are driving for the line with short runners close to the ruck and England are offside in their eagerness to stop them.
TRY! Ireland 0 - 7 England (Cadan Murley)
9 mins. A nothing kick from Prendergast, which neither found space nor did it allow a competition from his chasers, is returned by England via a massive carry by Lawrence into the Ireland half. The visitors move it left quickly and Slade dabs a delicious grubber for Murley to gather and score a debut try in the corner.
Smith converts to put the top had on a very good start from England.
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7 mins. A lot of probing kicks so far from both teams as both Smith and Prendergast look to force and error to glean some territory. So far there’s no clear advantage for either team and the game is mostly trapped in the middle third as a result.
4 mins. Marcus Smith finds a bit of space in the Ireland half before he’s hauled down and the phases start. He then drives a low cross-kick towads Tom Curry on the wing but it’s too long and into touch.
Mack Hansen has picked up and early injury and is replaced by Robbie Henshaw.
2 mins. Some textbook stuff from both sides in the form of a couple of settling carries followed by a kick. Cadan Murley passes his first test by confidently claiming a high ball under pressure.
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Kick Off!
After some quite preposterous singing, the game is underway via Sam Prendergast’s foot.
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Anyway, back at the game, the disco lights and pyrotechnics are firing up as we await the arrival of the teams.
Eddie Jones is a pundit on ITV, and the host has just had some #banter with him about what Danny Care said about him in his book. They all had a giggle about it and Jones insinuated it was all sour grapes because he dropped Care.
There’s been numerous accounts that Jones is a bully, not just from Care, and it lacks class that ITV have wheeled him out in the first place and worse that they’ve treated it like it’s a just a bit of a laugh.
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We’ve had one match already today, so get the full rundown of Scotland’s win over Italy here.
Warm up with some reading
Anyone have any answers to all this uncertainty? Please for the love of God let me know on the email. Thoughts on anything else also welcome.
Teams
Simon Easterby has kept faith with Leinster youngster Sam Prendergast at 10, which keeps recent incumbent Jack Crowley on the bench. Joe McCarthy, the other predicted wunderkind of Ireland’s future, is injured and so Tadhg Beirne takes his place at lock ad that brings Ryan Baird in at blindside.
England have a familiar look from the Autumn, with wing Cadan Murley the notable new selection. The Curry brothers, Tom and Ben and united on the flanks, Luke Cowan-Dickie replaces injured hooker Jamie George and new captain Maro Itoje leads his side out in Dublin.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Gary Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird, Josh Van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Tom Clarkson, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Robbie Henshaw.
England: Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Cadan Murley; Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart, Maro Itoje (capt), George Martin, Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Ben Earl
Replacements: Theo Dan, Fin Baxter, Joe Heyes, Ollie Chessum, Chandler Cunningham-South, Tom Willis, Harry Randall, Fin Smith
Preamble
It’s a time of uncertainty. The most powerful man in the world is regularly walking to a microphone to bray baffling, world twisting orders like a drunk and ill-tempered town crier minus the olde worlde charm. Nobody seems to know what growth means, despite it being used like a comma in the every speech leaders make; and nobody is really sure if boot-cut is back in or not.
This climate shrouds this match also, with both Ireland and England having much to ponder.
The home side are without their head coach with Andy Farrell away doing promotional work for the British & Irish Lions, a sabbatical that coincided with the most notable dip in form in Ireland’s recent history. Yes, they remain Six Nations champs and one of the top teams around, but there’s been plenty in the previous months to suggest that their monolithic success is more like a jenga tower with an increasing number of the blocks being nudged out of position. The Autumn series was plagued with set-piece issues combined with a misfiring attack and some poor discipline under pressure. These factors, alloyed with the ageing squad and a lack of genuine pace could see it all topple in the coming weeks.
England simply can’t win enough matches, despite having a settled squad of not-inconsiderable talent – albeit short of world class – some promising aspects to their play, and in Marcus Smith a now fully matured playmaker. There’s also the unanswered question about whether Steve Borthwick has what it takes at this level, especially in the light of him losing backroom staff at an Eddie Jones-esque rate and doubts over the quality of the replacements. Who knows if the significant defensive frailties present in November have been sorted, as well.
Plenty of questions, in a few hours we should have some answers.
