IRELAND’S FIVE-TRY win against England on Saturday was one of the most lethal performances of the entire Andy Farrell era.
A simple way to measure this is to compare Ireland’s points per 22 entry at Twickenham last weekend with every other game of Farrell’s reign.
Ireland’s ruthless win in London saw them score 4.33 points per entry into the English 22.
That is the third-best return from Ireland against top-tier opposition since Farrell took over ahead of the 2020 Six Nations, according to Opta’s data.
The only two more ruthless efforts from a Farrell Ireland team came all the way back in 2021, when they scored 5.67 points per 22 entry against England in the Six Nations, the day when the Farrell era arguably took flight.
Later that year, Ireland beat Argentina with a return of 5.00 points per 22 entry as they swept through the November Tests in impressive style.
Ireland have had some great days in the five years since, but the manner in which they took their chances in a record-breaking win in London yesterday was spectacular.
Across Farrell’s entire reign, Ireland have averaged 2.72 points per attacking 22 entry, so the 4.33 per entry against England was a huge part of their victory.
The 10-minute blitz in the first half when Ireland scored three tries will live long in the memory. It was the epitome of being ruthless, and it showed us where Farrell and his coaches want this team to go.
The scores from Jamison Gibson-Park, Robert Baloucoune, and Tommy O’Brien were a little different for Ireland, given that they were a blend of breakneck speed, lethal intent in transition, and the longstanding strengths of cohesion and hard work.
The flurry of attacking brilliance began just after Ireland survived an 18-phase passage of pressure from England in their own 22, which came only a few minutes after another 13-phase sequence when the English went close to scoring.
Steve Borthwick’s men couldn’t get over the line as Ireland clung on, then the script was flipped as Ireland struck clinically from deep in their own half.
Henry Pollock has just knocked on for an Irish scrum, which comes under pressure just like the previous few.
Ireland use channel one ball, hooking quickly down the near side of the scrum to get it out as soon as possible, and Gibson-Park does a good job of clearing it.
Rather than trying to whip the ball away from the base, he scoops it, hops backwards, makes sure it doesn’t collide with number eight Caelan Doris, then passes.
The ball is away from the set-piece and now we see one of backs coach Andrew Goodman’s strike plays unfold.
Inside centre Stuart McCloskey [red below] is often the fulcrum around whom Ireland’s set-piece plays unfold as he either carries, passes short on his outside, or pulls the ball out the back so they can play to width.
But in this instance, Ireland use outside centre Garry Ringrose in that role as out-half Jack Crowley fires his pass out to the number 13.
As Crowley’s pass skips him, McCloskey [red below] is already on the move cross-field as he drops in behind Ringrose [yellow] to give his centre partner an option out the back of fullback Jamie Osborne [blue], who runs short off Ringrose.
This kind of ‘blocker’ shape is exactly the kind of thing Ireland usually run with McCloskey on the ball and Ringrose running short off him as Crowley or a wing offers the back-door option, so it’s a change-up for the English defence.
Ringrose can carry, pass short to Osborne, or go out the back to McCloskey. As we see below, he goes out the back.
As soon as McCloskey gets on the ball, he’s a concern for England centre Fraser Dingwall [red below], who has to pause and make sure that Ollie Lawrence on his inside will get to McCloskey.
Similarly, England left wing Henry Arundell is concerned about Ireland wing O’Brien [pink above], who has swung across from the left-hand side.
All of this serves to preserve space out wide for one of Ireland’s main danger men, right wing Baloucoune.
McCloskey has the option of hitting O’Brien short off his outside shoulder here, but having offered a running threat to the English defence, he fires a well-timed pass to Baloucoune in space.
And now we get a great illustration of the value of the speed Baloucoune possesses, as he backs himself on the outside of the also-very-fast Arundell.
There are plenty of wings who might try to step back to the inside here or run more directly at Arundell, backing their power in contact.
But Baloucoune fancies himself on the outside, slowing briefly to catch the pass, then hitching into an acceleration.
Arundell catches up on Baloucoune, but the Ireland wing shows another of his strengths, his offloading game.
He has long, strong arms and a keen awareness of when to use them to his advantage.
O’Brien has worked hard to accelerate upfield on the inside and he is rewarded with an accurate, one-handed offload from Baloucoune, who uses his left arm to fend Arundell.
As we can see above, Baloucoune does well to get himself into a strong position from which to offload to O’Brien.
With George Ford tracking back, O’Brien doesn’t have a passing option to Gibson-Park on his inside.
So he attempts to use his footwork to beat Freddie Steward, but the England fullback does a fine job of tackling O’Brien.
Lawrence has worked back downfield and he’s now a big jackal threat over O’Brien as he goes to ground in Steward’s tackle.
That means Baloucoune has to show speed of a different kind now.
He has to race to make an impact on Lawrence so the English centre doesn’t get his hands onto the ball for a poach.
Baloucuoune dips in low and manages to do enough to nudge Lawrence backwards, with Obsorne joining to help him finish the job on the English centre.
It’s a close call but referee Andrea Piardi says that Lawrence jackaled “on the body [of O'Brien], not on the ball” and Gibson-Park can continue the attack.
Away to the left, Ireland have found their familiar ’3-2′ shape, with a pod of three forwards [pink below] close to the ruck and another pod of two [blue] in midfield.
Often, Ireland will use their 3-pod to carry directly off the scrum-half, but they want to keep the English moving here as they scramble to get organised after the break down the right.
So Crowley steps in as first receiver and passes straight behind the 3-pod to Ringrose, who moves the ball on to lock James Ryan.
After working downfield, England’s defensive line is disjointed and Ryan shows his power to make a fine carry.
Again, the clearout work is important as prop duo Jeremy Loughman and Tadhg Furlong, who comes from the 3-pod, do a good job of removing Ellis Genge.
That means a high-speed recycle for Ireland as England struggle to catch up.
While Ryan is carrying, Crowley [red below] works smartly to swing out to Ireland’s left because he wants to keep English chasing. Ringrose [yellow] also works very hard to stay up on his feet as Tom Curry tries to put him on the deck after passing to Ryan.
Their efforts are key because Crowley and Ringrose combine fluidly on the next phase to throw another challenging picture at the English defence.
This time, Crowley works a loop around the direct-running Ringrose.
Ringrose runs his line at speed, sitting Curry down even as the Irish centre releases the ball back to Crowley, who gets Ford’s soft inside shoulder to run into.
As Crowley does a good job of squaring up to take the space, watch how Ringrose again fights to stay up on his feet, then accelerates into the breakdown at speed for a superb clearout on Itoje.
Again, it means lightning-quick ball for Ireland and second row Joe McCarthy decides to pick and make one of his characteristic in-to-out carries.
McCarthy hitches to the outside of England wing Tommy Freeman and it takes a tackle assist from Steward to bring him down.
England desperately need to get a grip on the Irish attack at this stage and that desperation slips into ill-discipline.
Curry [blue below] enters the breakdown completely from the side as he looks to poach.
It’s a stonewall penalty for Ireland and Piardi blows for it as the ball comes loose from McCarthy on the ground.
As Piardi is awarding the penalty, Tadhg Beirne is wrestling with Freeman to claim the ball, which proves vital as he can quickly get it into Gibson-Park’s hands.
Gibson-Park is already calling for it because he has spotted his chance.
There are two English players still on the ground, Curry [red above] has his back turned to Gibson-Park, lock Ollie Chessum [yellow] is as good as standing still, while prop Joe Heyes and lock Maro Itoje [blue] haven’t started backtracking yet.
Without a moment of hesitation, Gibson-Park quick-taps and backs himself to beat the retreating tighthead Heyes for speed.
And so, 47 seconds after feeding the ball into the scrum, Gibson-Park scores for Ireland with his fourth touch of the ball.
The Irish scrum-half is also integral to the second Irish try, which happens even quicker.
In between, Crowley is wide with a penalty shot at goal from 45 metres out, England have a couple of hiccups with their lineout, and O’Brien is penalised for this contest in the air against Steward.
Gibson-Park claims the scraps but Piardi blows his whistle before the scrum-half can go and dot down, indicating a penalty to England.
“You caught him [Steward] in the air,” Piardi tells O’Brien. “Not in a realistic position to contest the ball, in the air.”
Ireland aren’t happy, with Gibson-Park protesting after England kick to touch.
“He [O'Brien] was late,” says Piardi.
Ireland are frustrated but they get over it quickly as O’Brien goes up to win the ball in a similar position just two minutes later, benefitting from a fine Gibson-Park box kick.
Gibson-Park gets more than four seconds of hang time on his kick, which is usually an indicator that the chaser will have a good chance to get under it.
The ball travels just over 20 metres upfield and England are uncertain underneath it.
Steward [red above] is initially quite deep in the backfield and decides he can’t get upfield quick enough to try and win the ball in the air.
That leaves right wing Freeman [yellow] retreating backwards to contest it from a starting position on the right touchline.
This is all in O’Brien’s favour as he gets underneath the ball and catches it cleanly without intense competition.
As O’Brien lands and falls to the ground, Ford and Freeman are both over him, posing a turnover threat.
That means Josh van der Flier and Ringrose need to be accurate and aggressive with their clearout to ensure Ireland have quick ball to play off after retaining the kick.
Retained kicks are a superb platform because the defence is scrambling to get organised. If you can strike at speed from a retained kick, there is usually space to be found in the frontline defence or the backfield.
Van der Flier and Ringrose leave the ball on a platter for Gibson-Park.
As all of this is happening, there is important work going on well away from the ball.
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Below, we can see Crowley [red] and Osborne [blue] in deep positions after the kick.
This pair are getting set up to defend in the Irish backfield in the event that Gibson-Park’s kick isn’t retained.
Crowley is moving to the right-hand side of the backfield, which means that Osborne can set up in the left-hand side. Osborne is the superior aerial presence, so it makes sense for him to be on the near side in the event of England box-kicking back at Ireland.
As things transpire, Crowley and Osborne aren’t needed in the backfield but the speed at which they get into the Irish attacking line after O’Brien’s aerial win is an insight into Ireland’s increasing ambition in these transition phases of the game.
As we see above, Crowley and Osborne are inserting themselves into the Irish attack in central positions as Gibson-Park moves the ball away from O’Brien’s aerial win.
As we discussed last week, Ireland tend to use some of their phase-play forward shapes in transition, as is the case here with the 3-pod [pink below] setting up off Gibson-Park.
With Beirne at the heart of the 3-pod, Crowley communicates on the move to let the Irish lock know that he wants the ball out the back.
Again, Ireland want to shift possession away from where so many bodies are clustered, giving one of their more dangerous backs a one-on-one chance to do damage.
Because Doris is a genuine threat to carry from a Beirne tip-on pass, England’s Curry [yellow below] bites in on the Ireland skipper.
That then leaves Lawrence hugely exposed out in the English midfield as Beirne sweeps a pass out the back of Doris to Crowley.
Curry is now having to chase out to get to Osborne, who has popped up outside Crowley.
Meanwhile, left wing Arundell has set up very wide outside Lawrence as he worries about Dan Sheehan and Baloucoune holding width for Ireland.
English scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet [blue above] is sprinting to get into the line outside Lawrence but it’s already too late to make any difference to the integrity of the defensive line.
A flowing, accurate chain of passes from Gibson-Park, Beirne, Crowley, and Osborne gets the ball into danger man McCloskey’s hands.
And as he has already done so often in the opening three rounds of this Six Nations, McCloskey produces a bit of brilliance.
Lawrence has had to hold on Osborne initially, fearing that Curry won’t get across, so the English centre turns out onto McCloskey late.
As we see above, van Poortvliet joins the English line outside McCloskey, probably worrying about Sheehan wider out.
That leaves McCloskey one-on-one against Lawrence. He instantly tucks the ball into his right arm and gets his left up to fend Lawrence. The English centre makes contact in an upright position. He can’t get a firm grip on McCloskey, who accelerates away.
The Ireland centre shows impressive pace and looks like he might take it home, only for a fine cover tackle from Steward to stop him short.
With McCloskey on the ground, the threats to Ireland scoring on the next phase are Lawrence [red below] and Ford [yellow], who has assisted in the tackle before bouncing up to his feet.
That means Sheehan [blue] has to be accurate to clear the way for Gibson-Park.
Sheehan is exactly that as he drives both Lawrence and Ford away, denying them breakdown access and also removing them from potentially trying to scramble in defence.
Gibson-Park still has to deal with illegal play from Steward, who swings around and back up but launches himself off his feet to play the scrum-half.
But Gibson-Park shows balance and control to stay on his feet, as well as keeping a grip on the ball as he scoots to his right, slipping away from Steward’s grasp at his left ankle.
Crowley [red below] and Osborne [blue] have swung into the shortside.
As Gibson-Park ties down Arundell with his scooting run, it’s a two-man overload for Ireland and the scrum-half calmly floats a bridge pass over van Poortvliet to give Baloucoune a straightforward finish.
The Ireland wing takes no risks with his finish, dotting down immediately to seal another lethal try.
Before Crowley can attempt the conversion, Steward is sin-binned. Initially, it appears as if the England fullback might escape punishment, with Gibson-Park roaring, “He can’t do that!” at Piardi, who replies, “Gibson, Gibson, I will speak to my AR.”
Irish captain Doris arrives to hammer home the message and after a TMO check to confirm it was Steward, he’s shown a yellow card.
Baloucoune’s try is technically a sixth-phase score that stems back to Ireland winning the scraps from an aerial contest wide on their right-hand side about 50 seconds earlier.
But our focus is on the lethal three phases in which O’Brien’s reclaim of Gibson-Park’s box kick creates a transition situation. That portion takes 25 seconds from kick to finish, with the speed of Ireland’s ball movement and McCloskey’s break shredding England.
Furlong, McCarthy, Sheehan, and van der Flier make up the 4-pod, with Crowley [blue above] in the boot behind.
In a more common 3-pod, McCarthy would be the obvious receiver from Gibson-Park’s pass here, but Ireland instead go one man wider to Sheehan.
As highlighted below, van der Flier taps Sheehan on the back as they set up, letting him know he’ll be on the hooker’s outside.
So Gibson-Park fizzes the ball across the face of McCarthy to Sheehan, who lures the advancing Chessum [red below] to bite in, despite Luke Cowan-Dickie turning out to tackle Sheehan.
At the same time, England’s Ben Earl [yellow below] has been attracted by Crowley’s dart out the back of Sheehan.
Earl can’t adjust in when Chessum bites on Sheehan.
Which means that van der Flier scorches through almost untouched as Sheehan plays a deft tip-on pass to the openside flanker. Again, the speed of the Irish thought and execution catches England out.
Van der Flier makes it all the way up into the English half before passing to Gibson-Park on the inside.
Pollock shows his pace to trackback and tackle the Irish scrum-half.
Van der Flier follows up with an excellent clearout of Pollock.
O’Brien steps in at scrum-half and moves the ball quickly to the right. Out-half Crowley spots space wide on the right, where Baloucoune is holding width.
He opts for a cross kick but it’s not one Baloucoune can compete for, nor does it find grass, as Arundell marks it.
Still, these are massive gains from Ireland straight from the restart against 14 men.
England get time to draw breath here as Piardi has to be replaced after suffering an injury sprinting downfield in pursuit of van der Flier.
Yet the onslaught continues immediately upon the resumption of the game.
Just before Arundell kicks the mark to get the game going again, out-half Ford approaches to have a word with him.
We don’t know whether he tells Arundell to get the ball into touch or keep it in play but it’s the latter that happens. And Ireland punish England in transition.
Osborne fields the ball close to the right touchline and though he slips as he runs it back, Furlong, Loughman, and McCarthy are there to ensure he’s not turned over by Itoje.
And as is increasingly their habit, Ireland quickly move the ball away from the point of contact to stretch the English defence.
Ireland set up another 4-pod [pink below], with Crowley in the boot.
As we can see above, Beirne is later arriving, having tried to charge down Arundell’s kick. That means he’s still retreating to join the 4-pod as Gibson-Park passes.
But Beirne manages to run a convincing line outside van der Flier as Gibson-Park fizzes the ball across the face of Doris.
Van der Flier sweeps out the back of Beirne to Crowley, who sends Ringrose carrying hard against the adjusting English defence.
McCloskey provides a one-man clearout on Earl as he looks to bounce back up onto the ball, having tackled Ringrose.
While that’s all happening, it’s important to note the work-rate from Baloucoune, who swings at speed all the way from the right touchline out towards the left.
Below, we see Baloucoune on the right-hand side as Osborne takes the ball into contact.
But as Gibson-Park passes to the 4-pod, we can see Baloucoune beginning to swing.
Baloucoune looks to give Ringrose an option out the back of McCloskey, then continues to shift to the left.
And as Ringrose is carrying the ball, we can also see that Crowley [yellow below] and Doris [blue] are working hard to get over to the left-hand side.
They’re keen to create an overload against 14-man England.
As the ball is recycled, Beirne and Ryan also work around the corner to give Crowley inside passing options, leaving the English defence with plenty to cover.
It still takes some class from Doris on the ball to create the opening.
Doris uses a flash of footwork to get on the outside of Chessum [red below], which causes Fraser Dingwall [yellow] concern on his inside shoulder.
Doris gets Dingwall to bite in, leaving Baloucoune in space as Doris passes just after Chessum tackles him.
The value of Baloucoune’s speed is clear again as he accelerates, calmly dummying a pass to O’Brien to make England wing Freeman sit off him.
Even with his dummy slowing him down, Baloucoune still has the pace to hitch clear of the despairing tackle attempt of Lawrence.
Baloucoune has Gibson-Park working up on the inside but as he draws last defender Ford, he decides to back O’Brien’s speed on his outside.
O’Brien burns up beyond Freeman, takes the pass from Baloucoune, then has to pace to get clear of another despairing tackle attempt from behind by Freeman.
Less than 30 seconds after Osborne has fielded the ball out on the right in Ireland’s half, O’Brien gleefully dots down under the English posts.
This 19-point blitz in just over 10 minutes leaves Ireland cruising with a 22-0 lead after only half an hour at Twickenham.
The Irish fans react with an unforgettable rendition of The Fields of Athenry.
__________
Note: Ireland’s highest-ever points per 22 entry in a game during the Andy Farrell era was against Portugal in July 2025 when they won 106-7 in Lisbon.
We have discounted that record of 5.89 points per 22 entry here due to the mismatch involved.
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This was one of the most lethal displays of the Andy Farrell era
IRELAND’S FIVE-TRY win against England on Saturday was one of the most lethal performances of the entire Andy Farrell era.
A simple way to measure this is to compare Ireland’s points per 22 entry at Twickenham last weekend with every other game of Farrell’s reign.
Ireland’s ruthless win in London saw them score 4.33 points per entry into the English 22.
That is the third-best return from Ireland against top-tier opposition since Farrell took over ahead of the 2020 Six Nations, according to Opta’s data.
The only two more ruthless efforts from a Farrell Ireland team came all the way back in 2021, when they scored 5.67 points per 22 entry against England in the Six Nations, the day when the Farrell era arguably took flight.
Later that year, Ireland beat Argentina with a return of 5.00 points per 22 entry as they swept through the November Tests in impressive style.
Ireland have had some great days in the five years since, but the manner in which they took their chances in a record-breaking win in London yesterday was spectacular.
Across Farrell’s entire reign, Ireland have averaged 2.72 points per attacking 22 entry, so the 4.33 per entry against England was a huge part of their victory.
The 10-minute blitz in the first half when Ireland scored three tries will live long in the memory. It was the epitome of being ruthless, and it showed us where Farrell and his coaches want this team to go.
The scores from Jamison Gibson-Park, Robert Baloucoune, and Tommy O’Brien were a little different for Ireland, given that they were a blend of breakneck speed, lethal intent in transition, and the longstanding strengths of cohesion and hard work.
The flurry of attacking brilliance began just after Ireland survived an 18-phase passage of pressure from England in their own 22, which came only a few minutes after another 13-phase sequence when the English went close to scoring.
Steve Borthwick’s men couldn’t get over the line as Ireland clung on, then the script was flipped as Ireland struck clinically from deep in their own half.
Henry Pollock has just knocked on for an Irish scrum, which comes under pressure just like the previous few.
Ireland use channel one ball, hooking quickly down the near side of the scrum to get it out as soon as possible, and Gibson-Park does a good job of clearing it.
Rather than trying to whip the ball away from the base, he scoops it, hops backwards, makes sure it doesn’t collide with number eight Caelan Doris, then passes.
The ball is away from the set-piece and now we see one of backs coach Andrew Goodman’s strike plays unfold.
Inside centre Stuart McCloskey [red below] is often the fulcrum around whom Ireland’s set-piece plays unfold as he either carries, passes short on his outside, or pulls the ball out the back so they can play to width.
But in this instance, Ireland use outside centre Garry Ringrose in that role as out-half Jack Crowley fires his pass out to the number 13.
As Crowley’s pass skips him, McCloskey [red below] is already on the move cross-field as he drops in behind Ringrose [yellow] to give his centre partner an option out the back of fullback Jamie Osborne [blue], who runs short off Ringrose.
This kind of ‘blocker’ shape is exactly the kind of thing Ireland usually run with McCloskey on the ball and Ringrose running short off him as Crowley or a wing offers the back-door option, so it’s a change-up for the English defence.
Ringrose can carry, pass short to Osborne, or go out the back to McCloskey. As we see below, he goes out the back.
As soon as McCloskey gets on the ball, he’s a concern for England centre Fraser Dingwall [red below], who has to pause and make sure that Ollie Lawrence on his inside will get to McCloskey.
Similarly, England left wing Henry Arundell is concerned about Ireland wing O’Brien [pink above], who has swung across from the left-hand side.
All of this serves to preserve space out wide for one of Ireland’s main danger men, right wing Baloucoune.
McCloskey has the option of hitting O’Brien short off his outside shoulder here, but having offered a running threat to the English defence, he fires a well-timed pass to Baloucoune in space.
And now we get a great illustration of the value of the speed Baloucoune possesses, as he backs himself on the outside of the also-very-fast Arundell.
There are plenty of wings who might try to step back to the inside here or run more directly at Arundell, backing their power in contact.
But Baloucoune fancies himself on the outside, slowing briefly to catch the pass, then hitching into an acceleration.
Arundell catches up on Baloucoune, but the Ireland wing shows another of his strengths, his offloading game.
He has long, strong arms and a keen awareness of when to use them to his advantage.
O’Brien has worked hard to accelerate upfield on the inside and he is rewarded with an accurate, one-handed offload from Baloucoune, who uses his left arm to fend Arundell.
As we can see above, Baloucoune does well to get himself into a strong position from which to offload to O’Brien.
With George Ford tracking back, O’Brien doesn’t have a passing option to Gibson-Park on his inside.
So he attempts to use his footwork to beat Freddie Steward, but the England fullback does a fine job of tackling O’Brien.
Lawrence has worked back downfield and he’s now a big jackal threat over O’Brien as he goes to ground in Steward’s tackle.
That means Baloucoune has to show speed of a different kind now.
He has to race to make an impact on Lawrence so the English centre doesn’t get his hands onto the ball for a poach.
Baloucuoune dips in low and manages to do enough to nudge Lawrence backwards, with Obsorne joining to help him finish the job on the English centre.
It’s a close call but referee Andrea Piardi says that Lawrence jackaled “on the body [of O'Brien], not on the ball” and Gibson-Park can continue the attack.
Away to the left, Ireland have found their familiar ’3-2′ shape, with a pod of three forwards [pink below] close to the ruck and another pod of two [blue] in midfield.
Often, Ireland will use their 3-pod to carry directly off the scrum-half, but they want to keep the English moving here as they scramble to get organised after the break down the right.
So Crowley steps in as first receiver and passes straight behind the 3-pod to Ringrose, who moves the ball on to lock James Ryan.
After working downfield, England’s defensive line is disjointed and Ryan shows his power to make a fine carry.
Again, the clearout work is important as prop duo Jeremy Loughman and Tadhg Furlong, who comes from the 3-pod, do a good job of removing Ellis Genge.
That means a high-speed recycle for Ireland as England struggle to catch up.
While Ryan is carrying, Crowley [red below] works smartly to swing out to Ireland’s left because he wants to keep English chasing. Ringrose [yellow] also works very hard to stay up on his feet as Tom Curry tries to put him on the deck after passing to Ryan.
Their efforts are key because Crowley and Ringrose combine fluidly on the next phase to throw another challenging picture at the English defence.
This time, Crowley works a loop around the direct-running Ringrose.
Ringrose runs his line at speed, sitting Curry down even as the Irish centre releases the ball back to Crowley, who gets Ford’s soft inside shoulder to run into.
As Crowley does a good job of squaring up to take the space, watch how Ringrose again fights to stay up on his feet, then accelerates into the breakdown at speed for a superb clearout on Itoje.
Again, it means lightning-quick ball for Ireland and second row Joe McCarthy decides to pick and make one of his characteristic in-to-out carries.
McCarthy hitches to the outside of England wing Tommy Freeman and it takes a tackle assist from Steward to bring him down.
England desperately need to get a grip on the Irish attack at this stage and that desperation slips into ill-discipline.
Curry [blue below] enters the breakdown completely from the side as he looks to poach.
It’s a stonewall penalty for Ireland and Piardi blows for it as the ball comes loose from McCarthy on the ground.
As Piardi is awarding the penalty, Tadhg Beirne is wrestling with Freeman to claim the ball, which proves vital as he can quickly get it into Gibson-Park’s hands.
Gibson-Park is already calling for it because he has spotted his chance.
There are two English players still on the ground, Curry [red above] has his back turned to Gibson-Park, lock Ollie Chessum [yellow] is as good as standing still, while prop Joe Heyes and lock Maro Itoje [blue] haven’t started backtracking yet.
Without a moment of hesitation, Gibson-Park quick-taps and backs himself to beat the retreating tighthead Heyes for speed.
And so, 47 seconds after feeding the ball into the scrum, Gibson-Park scores for Ireland with his fourth touch of the ball.
The Irish scrum-half is also integral to the second Irish try, which happens even quicker.
In between, Crowley is wide with a penalty shot at goal from 45 metres out, England have a couple of hiccups with their lineout, and O’Brien is penalised for this contest in the air against Steward.
Gibson-Park claims the scraps but Piardi blows his whistle before the scrum-half can go and dot down, indicating a penalty to England.
“You caught him [Steward] in the air,” Piardi tells O’Brien. “Not in a realistic position to contest the ball, in the air.”
Ireland aren’t happy, with Gibson-Park protesting after England kick to touch.
“He [O'Brien] was late,” says Piardi.
Ireland are frustrated but they get over it quickly as O’Brien goes up to win the ball in a similar position just two minutes later, benefitting from a fine Gibson-Park box kick.
Gibson-Park gets more than four seconds of hang time on his kick, which is usually an indicator that the chaser will have a good chance to get under it.
The ball travels just over 20 metres upfield and England are uncertain underneath it.
Steward [red above] is initially quite deep in the backfield and decides he can’t get upfield quick enough to try and win the ball in the air.
That leaves right wing Freeman [yellow] retreating backwards to contest it from a starting position on the right touchline.
This is all in O’Brien’s favour as he gets underneath the ball and catches it cleanly without intense competition.
As O’Brien lands and falls to the ground, Ford and Freeman are both over him, posing a turnover threat.
That means Josh van der Flier and Ringrose need to be accurate and aggressive with their clearout to ensure Ireland have quick ball to play off after retaining the kick.
Retained kicks are a superb platform because the defence is scrambling to get organised. If you can strike at speed from a retained kick, there is usually space to be found in the frontline defence or the backfield.
Van der Flier and Ringrose leave the ball on a platter for Gibson-Park.
As all of this is happening, there is important work going on well away from the ball.
Below, we can see Crowley [red] and Osborne [blue] in deep positions after the kick.
This pair are getting set up to defend in the Irish backfield in the event that Gibson-Park’s kick isn’t retained.
Crowley is moving to the right-hand side of the backfield, which means that Osborne can set up in the left-hand side. Osborne is the superior aerial presence, so it makes sense for him to be on the near side in the event of England box-kicking back at Ireland.
As things transpire, Crowley and Osborne aren’t needed in the backfield but the speed at which they get into the Irish attacking line after O’Brien’s aerial win is an insight into Ireland’s increasing ambition in these transition phases of the game.
As we see above, Crowley and Osborne are inserting themselves into the Irish attack in central positions as Gibson-Park moves the ball away from O’Brien’s aerial win.
As we discussed last week, Ireland tend to use some of their phase-play forward shapes in transition, as is the case here with the 3-pod [pink below] setting up off Gibson-Park.
With Beirne at the heart of the 3-pod, Crowley communicates on the move to let the Irish lock know that he wants the ball out the back.
Again, Ireland want to shift possession away from where so many bodies are clustered, giving one of their more dangerous backs a one-on-one chance to do damage.
Because Doris is a genuine threat to carry from a Beirne tip-on pass, England’s Curry [yellow below] bites in on the Ireland skipper.
That then leaves Lawrence hugely exposed out in the English midfield as Beirne sweeps a pass out the back of Doris to Crowley.
Curry is now having to chase out to get to Osborne, who has popped up outside Crowley.
Meanwhile, left wing Arundell has set up very wide outside Lawrence as he worries about Dan Sheehan and Baloucoune holding width for Ireland.
English scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet [blue above] is sprinting to get into the line outside Lawrence but it’s already too late to make any difference to the integrity of the defensive line.
A flowing, accurate chain of passes from Gibson-Park, Beirne, Crowley, and Osborne gets the ball into danger man McCloskey’s hands.
And as he has already done so often in the opening three rounds of this Six Nations, McCloskey produces a bit of brilliance.
Lawrence has had to hold on Osborne initially, fearing that Curry won’t get across, so the English centre turns out onto McCloskey late.
As we see above, van Poortvliet joins the English line outside McCloskey, probably worrying about Sheehan wider out.
That leaves McCloskey one-on-one against Lawrence. He instantly tucks the ball into his right arm and gets his left up to fend Lawrence. The English centre makes contact in an upright position. He can’t get a firm grip on McCloskey, who accelerates away.
The Ireland centre shows impressive pace and looks like he might take it home, only for a fine cover tackle from Steward to stop him short.
With McCloskey on the ground, the threats to Ireland scoring on the next phase are Lawrence [red below] and Ford [yellow], who has assisted in the tackle before bouncing up to his feet.
That means Sheehan [blue] has to be accurate to clear the way for Gibson-Park.
Sheehan is exactly that as he drives both Lawrence and Ford away, denying them breakdown access and also removing them from potentially trying to scramble in defence.
Gibson-Park still has to deal with illegal play from Steward, who swings around and back up but launches himself off his feet to play the scrum-half.
But Gibson-Park shows balance and control to stay on his feet, as well as keeping a grip on the ball as he scoots to his right, slipping away from Steward’s grasp at his left ankle.
Crowley [red below] and Osborne [blue] have swung into the shortside.
As Gibson-Park ties down Arundell with his scooting run, it’s a two-man overload for Ireland and the scrum-half calmly floats a bridge pass over van Poortvliet to give Baloucoune a straightforward finish.
The Ireland wing takes no risks with his finish, dotting down immediately to seal another lethal try.
Before Crowley can attempt the conversion, Steward is sin-binned. Initially, it appears as if the England fullback might escape punishment, with Gibson-Park roaring, “He can’t do that!” at Piardi, who replies, “Gibson, Gibson, I will speak to my AR.”
Irish captain Doris arrives to hammer home the message and after a TMO check to confirm it was Steward, he’s shown a yellow card.
Baloucoune’s try is technically a sixth-phase score that stems back to Ireland winning the scraps from an aerial contest wide on their right-hand side about 50 seconds earlier.
But our focus is on the lethal three phases in which O’Brien’s reclaim of Gibson-Park’s box kick creates a transition situation. That portion takes 25 seconds from kick to finish, with the speed of Ireland’s ball movement and McCloskey’s break shredding England.
Ireland continue their assault directly from kick-off as they use their by-now familiar four-man pod set-up.
Furlong, McCarthy, Sheehan, and van der Flier make up the 4-pod, with Crowley [blue above] in the boot behind.
In a more common 3-pod, McCarthy would be the obvious receiver from Gibson-Park’s pass here, but Ireland instead go one man wider to Sheehan.
As highlighted below, van der Flier taps Sheehan on the back as they set up, letting him know he’ll be on the hooker’s outside.
So Gibson-Park fizzes the ball across the face of McCarthy to Sheehan, who lures the advancing Chessum [red below] to bite in, despite Luke Cowan-Dickie turning out to tackle Sheehan.
At the same time, England’s Ben Earl [yellow below] has been attracted by Crowley’s dart out the back of Sheehan.
Earl can’t adjust in when Chessum bites on Sheehan.
Which means that van der Flier scorches through almost untouched as Sheehan plays a deft tip-on pass to the openside flanker. Again, the speed of the Irish thought and execution catches England out.
Van der Flier makes it all the way up into the English half before passing to Gibson-Park on the inside.
Pollock shows his pace to trackback and tackle the Irish scrum-half.
Van der Flier follows up with an excellent clearout of Pollock.
O’Brien steps in at scrum-half and moves the ball quickly to the right. Out-half Crowley spots space wide on the right, where Baloucoune is holding width.
He opts for a cross kick but it’s not one Baloucoune can compete for, nor does it find grass, as Arundell marks it.
Still, these are massive gains from Ireland straight from the restart against 14 men.
England get time to draw breath here as Piardi has to be replaced after suffering an injury sprinting downfield in pursuit of van der Flier.
Yet the onslaught continues immediately upon the resumption of the game.
Just before Arundell kicks the mark to get the game going again, out-half Ford approaches to have a word with him.
We don’t know whether he tells Arundell to get the ball into touch or keep it in play but it’s the latter that happens. And Ireland punish England in transition.
Osborne fields the ball close to the right touchline and though he slips as he runs it back, Furlong, Loughman, and McCarthy are there to ensure he’s not turned over by Itoje.
And as is increasingly their habit, Ireland quickly move the ball away from the point of contact to stretch the English defence.
Ireland set up another 4-pod [pink below], with Crowley in the boot.
As we can see above, Beirne is later arriving, having tried to charge down Arundell’s kick. That means he’s still retreating to join the 4-pod as Gibson-Park passes.
But Beirne manages to run a convincing line outside van der Flier as Gibson-Park fizzes the ball across the face of Doris.
Van der Flier sweeps out the back of Beirne to Crowley, who sends Ringrose carrying hard against the adjusting English defence.
McCloskey provides a one-man clearout on Earl as he looks to bounce back up onto the ball, having tackled Ringrose.
While that’s all happening, it’s important to note the work-rate from Baloucoune, who swings at speed all the way from the right touchline out towards the left.
Below, we see Baloucoune on the right-hand side as Osborne takes the ball into contact.
But as Gibson-Park passes to the 4-pod, we can see Baloucoune beginning to swing.
Baloucoune looks to give Ringrose an option out the back of McCloskey, then continues to shift to the left.
And as Ringrose is carrying the ball, we can also see that Crowley [yellow below] and Doris [blue] are working hard to get over to the left-hand side.
They’re keen to create an overload against 14-man England.
As the ball is recycled, Beirne and Ryan also work around the corner to give Crowley inside passing options, leaving the English defence with plenty to cover.
It still takes some class from Doris on the ball to create the opening.
Doris uses a flash of footwork to get on the outside of Chessum [red below], which causes Fraser Dingwall [yellow] concern on his inside shoulder.
Doris gets Dingwall to bite in, leaving Baloucoune in space as Doris passes just after Chessum tackles him.
The value of Baloucoune’s speed is clear again as he accelerates, calmly dummying a pass to O’Brien to make England wing Freeman sit off him.
Even with his dummy slowing him down, Baloucoune still has the pace to hitch clear of the despairing tackle attempt of Lawrence.
Baloucoune has Gibson-Park working up on the inside but as he draws last defender Ford, he decides to back O’Brien’s speed on his outside.
O’Brien burns up beyond Freeman, takes the pass from Baloucoune, then has to pace to get clear of another despairing tackle attempt from behind by Freeman.
Less than 30 seconds after Osborne has fielded the ball out on the right in Ireland’s half, O’Brien gleefully dots down under the English posts.
This 19-point blitz in just over 10 minutes leaves Ireland cruising with a 22-0 lead after only half an hour at Twickenham.
The Irish fans react with an unforgettable rendition of The Fields of Athenry.
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Note: Ireland’s highest-ever points per 22 entry in a game during the Andy Farrell era was against Portugal in July 2025 when they won 106-7 in Lisbon.
We have discounted that record of 5.89 points per 22 entry here due to the mismatch involved.
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