Ireland 29
England 10
IT WAS ONLY fitting that the biggest roar of the evening should be reserved for one man. The Man.
You thought it was going to be the deafening crescendo when the Limerick man was brought on for his 100th cap, but that was only a warm-up. The decibel levels went to another dimension when Earls dove over in the left corner late on, finishing smartly after an excellent pass from Bundee Aki.
The scenes of raucous celebration on the pitch, in the coaches’ box, and up in the stands said it all. Earls is a legend of Irish rugby and he’ll be hoping that there’s another chapter to come at the World Cup.
For Andy Farrell’s Ireland, this was a useful tune-up in their second-last match before the big show. They scored five excellent tries through Earls, Aki, Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, and Mack Hansen as their attack fired in thrilling fashion on several occasions. England aren’t a great team but it’s going to take one of those to stop this Irish attack.
This was Ireland’s last home outing before taking on Samoa in Bayonne next weekend, so it was pleasing to finish with their 16th consecutive win at the Aviva Stadium. Now they take the show on the road.
Their passage here was somewhat eased by a second-half red card for England number eight Billy Vunipola for a high tackle that was sent to the bunker for review and upgraded from yellow to red. You couldn’t make it up after all the furore around Owen Farrell.
Now England will have two disciplinary hearings to deal with next week.
It was a good day for Ireland overall but there were some concerns. Hooker Dan Sheehan limped off injured after 37 minutes and with Rónan Kelleher already dealing with a hamstring issue, that will be stressful for Farrell and co.
Lowe didn’t return from a second-half Head Injury Assessment but was back out on the bench with his team-mates in time to celebrate Earls’ superb achievement.
Ireland’s lineout and maul was frustratingly poor too, meaning forwards coach Paul O’Connell has plenty to work on. Overthrows, mistiming, double banking – there’s a lengthy list.
Still, on a warm, sunny evening in Dublin, this was a pleasing outing for Ireland.
It did take a while for the game to ignite, with defences on top early on as England wing Elliot Daly and Ireland centre Garry Ringrose delivered bone-shuddering tackles out wide, but the visitors opened the scoring five minutes in as George Ford slotted three points when Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne failed to roll away.
Ireland’s first foray into the English 22 ended with concern down the other end as Prendergast spilled the ball, Ford grabbed itm and hacked deep into the Irish half. But Hugo Keenan was typically assured in haring back to claim it, then Lowe came up with a monster exit kick.
Farrell’s men moved in front in the ninth minute with a superb try that started with the composed Hansen claiming a high ball. Ringrose’s slick pass wide to the left allowed Lowe to power to outside of his man, stretching the English defence. When Ireland swept back to midfield through Byrne, openside Josh van der Flier deftly tipped-on a short pass to O’Mahony, who charged through a hole in the English defence, drew the last man, and sent Aki over. Byrne converted for 7-3.
There was Irish worry off the restart as Prendergast was stripped of the ball, but he redeemed himself with a thunderous tackle and followed it up with a determined turnover penalty at the breakdown to lift the siege.
It was scrappy pre-season stuff for the next 20 minutes or so, with both sides making handling errors and giving up sloppy penalties. Ford missed a kickable shot at goal from the left of the posts after Hansen was pinged for not rolling away.
With Ireland’s lineout stuttering and their discipline a frustration, the Irish crowd had to stick with a stop-start affair but they were rewarded just before half time when a Billy Vuniopola knock-on and an Ireland scrum penalty allowed Farrell’s men into the English half.
It was another scintillating passage as Byrne cleverly slipped Lowe into a sliver of space on the right, the roaming left wing offloading to Keenan, who in turn found Prendergast. Ireland fizzed the ball wide to the other side, Lowe’s excellent catch-pass finding O’Mahony in space.
And when returned back across to the right, Byrne passed out the back for Hansen, who had time to measure a beautiful cross-field kick to Ringrose, who stepped back inside Freddie Steward and fended Daly to finish for a 12-3 half-time lead.
England had faded towards the end of that opening 40 and they started the second poorly, a handling error and some panicky work just outside their own 22 after an Irish kick combining to give the home side a 10-metre lineout.
Annoyingly for Ireland, their lineout and maul woes continued as they were swallowed up by he English defence but they immediately won a scrum penalty and went back into the left corner. This time, Herring’s throw to Prendergast wasn’t straight. Then Ireland gave up a scrum penalty. A real let-off.
England sensed a chance to grab momentum but it instantly evaporated as TMO Ben Whitehouse flagged Vunipola’s high shot on Porter, with referee Paul Williams showing yellow and sending it for the off-filed review. The red was never really in doubt.
As the bunker official made a decision on that, Ireland manufactured their third try, piling on the pressure in the English 22. Initially, they nearly botched it was Lowe’s offload out on the right went loose but Ireland regathered themselves and Byrne was soon lofting a pass wide to the left for Lowe to finish comfortably.
The next big celebration was for the introduction of Keith Earls heading into the final quarter, the Munster man on for his landmark cap as both James Lowe and Bundee Aki were called ashore for HIAs after clashing heads.
Lifted by the noise, Ireland won a breakdown turnover penalty in their 22 through sub tighthead prop Finlay Bealham and a welcome rendition of ‘The Fields of Athenry’ broke out among the Lansdowne Road crowd.
The vibes were good and Ireland soon had their fourth try, which was another peach. This time it came from close-range with penalty advantage playing. Prendergast took a pass close to the ruck but swivelled to pass out the back to scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.
He found Byrne and the Irish out-half fired a beauty of a long pass to Hansen close to the right touchline. The Connacht man danced inside the despairing last English challenge and Ireland were 22-3 to the good.
England powered over for a late consolation score through Kyle Sinckler after a quick tap penalty by sub scrum-half Danny Care.
But it was that man Earls who had the final say.
Ireland scorers:
Tries: Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Mack Hansen, Keith Earls
Conversions: Ross Byrne [2 from 5]
England scorers:
Try: Kyle Sinckler
Conversion: George Ford [1 from 1]
Penalties: George Ford [1 from 2]
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki (HIA – Jack Crowley ’59 to ’70), James Lowe (Keith Earls ’59); Ross Byrne (Jack Crowley ’70), Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray ’67); Andrew Porter (Jeremy Loughman ’73), Dan Sheehan (Rob Herring ’38), Tadhg Furlong (Finlay Bealham ’57); Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan (captain); Peter O’Mahony (Joe McCarthy ’53), Josh van der Flier, Cian Prendergast (Caelan Doris ’70).
ENGLAND: Freddie Steward; Anthony Watson ( (Marcus Smith ’70), Joe Marchant, Manu Tuilagi ((Ollie Lawrence ’61), Elliot Daly; George Ford, Ben Youngs (Danny Care ’57); Ellis Genge (Joe Marler ’57), Jamie George (Theo Dan ’67), Will Stuart (Kyle Sinckler ’45); Maro Itoje, David Ribbans (Ollie Chessum ’51); Courtney Lawes (captain) (Jack Willis ’75), Ben Earl, Billy Vunipola (red card ’53).
Referee: Paul Williams [NZR].
