Immense bench impact sends Ireland to bonus-point win over England

Murray Kinsella Reports from the Aviva Stadium

Ireland 27

England 22

THERE WERE TIMES in the first half that interim head coach Simon Easterby must have worried that his side’s inaccuracy in the English 22 would cost them the game, but Ireland came through an intense tussle with the Auld Enemy to get their bid for a third consecutive Six Nations title off to a winning start.

They only led for the first time 55 minutes into the match and a titanic impact from the Irish bench was instrumental in claiming a powerful bonus-point victory.

Returning hooker Dan Sheehan was immense as he bagged a deserved try, back row Jack Conan made up for lost time with pace and power off the bench, and out-half Jack Crowley was outstanding in his 21-minute outing.

Starting number 10 Sam Prendergast had an up-and-down evening, even if he showed his classy passing range, and Crowley has well and truly put his hand up to start against Scotland in Edinburgh next weekend. Sheehan and Conan are in the same boat.

There was one big injury concern for Ireland as tighthead prop Finlay Bealham limped off in the second half, having started in the absence of the injured Tadhg Furlong. The inexperienced Thomas Clarkson did well off the bench but losing such nous at tighthead is a worry.

There is so much for Ireland to improve in their eight-day turnaround to the Scotland game, especially their wastefulness in the opposition 22, as well as their attacking breakdown and kicking game, but they had flourishes of real class as they powered to their bonus point with three second-half tries.

Lions boss Andy Farrell was at the Aviva Stadium to watch this clash in the flesh and will have been taking mental notes on the risers and fallers in his plans.

Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park was named player of the match after a try-scoring performance, while Tadhg Beirne, Bundee Aki and Sheehan added powerful finishes to give their side a pleasing haul of five match points on the opening weekend. Left wing James Lowe was instrumental in several of those scores.

England out-half Marcus Smith was impressive and the combination of Tom and Ben Curry in the back row was effective at the breakdown but ultimately, the visitors faded out of the game for an important period in the second half. They did grab two late scores to earn a losing bonus point, another frustration for Ireland.

England had made a lively start to put Ireland under instant pressure but they simply gave the hosts too many chances to kick down into their 22. It took a while for Easterby’s men to get going but the juice was worth the squeeze. 

The anthems were rousing and the pre-match rendition of The Fields of Athenry added to the energy as both teams launched into the game with statements of intent. Freddie Steward won back the English kick-off, Mack Hansen smashed debutant wing Cadan Murley on kick chase, then Smith broke threateningly in the third minute only for Ireland to recover with a big scramble.

The early exchanges were kick-heavy and much of it was poor, including the mishit spiral kick from Prendergast straight down the throat of Smith, who sparked England’s ninth-minute opening try from there.

He ran back at Ireland and offloaded to centre Ollie Lawrence, who thundered through missed tackles by Gibson-Park and Beirne. It appeared that Garry Ringrose might have shut the English down when he hit Alex Mitchell hard on the next phase, but England were calm. Smith ripped a lovely pass out to the left and centre Henry Slade rolled a well-weighted grubber in behind Ireland for Murley to finish.

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Smith’s smooth conversion had England 7-0 up but they invited Ireland straight back in when they dropped the restart cold. Five minutes of intense Irish pressure followed in the English 22 but they left empty-handed when Rónan Kelleher’s try was correctly chalked off for Beirne holding Itoje into the breakdown to create space for his hooker.

And so launched a pattern of Irish visits into the English 22 ending in frustration, even with out-half Smith sin-binned for being offside close to his tryline after a flowing attack from Bundee Aki, Prendergast, Hansen, and Ryan Baird nearly produced a try.

James Ryan was done for obstruction ahead of Andrew Porter in the next attack, Aki knocked on after another promising build-up, then Keenan lost the ball forward next time in the 22.

Easterby must have been stressing over the lack of return on good territory but Ireland finally found the opening just before Smith returned from the bin. It seemed as though another attack would peter out when Ringrose swung the ball wide to Lowe but he spotted Mitchell in front of him and blasted through the English scrum-half before finding Gibson-Park on the inside. The Irish number nine had work to do but calmly stepped back inside the overcashing Steward to dot down.

Prendergast had a miss off the tee from the left-hand 15-metre line to leave Ireland trailing and they added to the sense of frustration by conceding another three points on the stroke of half time.

They were guilty of overplaying deep in their own half, leading to English possession that saw Smith’s slick pass send number eight Ben Earl scorching through in midfield. Ireland failed to roll away legally from the scrambling tackle and Smith made it 10-5 at the interval.

Ireland continued one of the themes of the first half with another miss from close range early in the second, England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie pouncing for a massive turnover near his tryline after Kelleher had carried from an Irish five-metre lineout.

Easterby responded by sending on Conan and Sheehan, who added instant oomph with two powerful carries. Ireland sensed momentum on their side and after a poor clearance to touch by Murley, they struck for their second score.

The forwards narrowed England up in midfield before Prendergast pulled the trigger and swept the ball wide left to Aki, who produced an outstanding finish past Smith, Mitchell, and Tommy Freeman, reaching out to dot down in the left corner.

Prendergast was wide with his conversion so the scores were tied but the 21-year-old soon had a 45-metre penalty to the right of the posts that he nailed. With 55 minutes played, Ireland were finally ahead at 13-10.

Easterby sent Crowley into the fray as the home side looked to take control in the final quarter and his first touch – a long clearing kick – was a good one, but the Irish errors continued as Lowe kicked out on the full before a Caelan Doris-knock-on.

Yet they found their accuracy for what proved to be a decisive 64th-minute try. Chandler Cunningham-South, just on the pitch for England, tackled Keenan in the air and Ireland kicked to touch.

Henshaw carried in midfield from the left-hand side lineout before Ireland bounced back to the left, Lowe bursting onto Gibson-Park’s clever short pass after initially remaining disguised in behind a couple of Irish forwards. Lowe strode into space, drew the last man and passed to Beirne on his left for the lock to finish a cracking set-piece score.

Crowley converted and Ireland had a 10-point cushion with 15 minutes left. 

Ireland were in the mood now and Crowley sent them into space up the left-hand side with a brilliant catch-pass under pressure that allowed Lowe to kick ahead and then follow up with Ringrose to force Murley into touch in the left corner.

Yet it went down as another miss with the tryline in sight as England won another breakdown turnover in the shadow of their own posts, Tom Curry pouncing on this occasion.

It was to be Ireland’s night, however, with Sheehan soon sending Conan on a scorching linebreak from deep in their own half before the sub hooker fired a beautiful pass out to Lowe on the left before the wing passed back inside for an emphatic Sheehan finish.

It was stunning rugby and Crowley put the icing on the cake with a fine conversion.

England grabbed a second try through Tom Curry late on and a mixed night for Ireland was summed up by Freeman scoring another with the clock in the red.

There is lots of hard work ahead for this Irish team, yet a bonus-point win in round one is an excellent return.

Ireland scorers:

Tries: Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne, Dan Sheehan.

Conversions:  Jack Crowley [2 from 2], Sam Prendergast [0 from 2]

Penalties: Sam Prendergast [1 from 1]

England scorers:

Tries: Cadan Murley, Tom Curry, Tommy Freeman

Conversions: Marcus Smith [2 from 3]

Penalties: Marcus Smith [1 from 1]

IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen (blood – Robbie Henshaw ’5 to ’17), Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki (Robbie Henshaw ’58), James Lowe; Sam Prendergast (Jack Crowley ’59), Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray ’74); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy ’74), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan ’50), Finlay Bealham (Thomas Clarkson ’59); James Ryan (Iain Henderson ’62), Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird (Jack Conan ’50), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.

ENGLAND: Freddie Steward (Fin Smith ’64); Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Cadan Murley; Marcus Smith (yellow card ’24), Alex Mitchell (Harry Randall ’64); Ellis Genge (Fin Baxter ’64), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Theo Dan ’56), Will Stuart (HIA – Joe Heyes ’38 to ‘HT, HIA  – ’51 to ’60, permanent ’64); Maro Itoje, George Martin (Ollie Chessum ’60); Tom Curry, Ben Curry (Chandler Cunningham-South ’60), Ben Earl (Tom Willis ’56).

Referee: Ben O’Keefe [New Zealand].