Thumbs up: England
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England demonstrated a scrumming masterclass against Ireland as they crushed their visitors 30-9 in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday.
In difficult weather conditions for running rugby, the English destroyed the Irish set-piece on numerous occasions as Alex Corbiserio, Dylan Hartley and Dan Cole enjoyed immense games.
The trio - with help from their back-five - totally dominated their opposite numbers in what became a feasting ground for the home side.
Victory means England finish the Championship in second place after winning four out of their five games while Ireland end up in third position.
Stuart Lancaster must now wait to see whether chief executive Ian Ritchie believes he is the right man to lead the English on a full-time basis.
On the evidence of the Six Nations, it will be difficult for Ritchie to overlook Lancaster staying with Graham Rowntree while Andy Farrell is unlikely to remain due to club commitments.
The opening half was a rather stagnant affair as both sides based their game largely on defence, with regular handling errors hampering proceedings. Ultimately, the action at Twickenham failed to excite those watching as three Owen Farrell penalties and two from Jonathan Sexton meant the half-time score was 9-6.
What was a blow to the Irish cause was the loss of starting tighthead Mike Ross, who left the field injured on 36 minutes and left Ulster loosehead Tom Court with what proved to be the toughest 44 minutes of his career. Cue England's pack twisting the knife at scrum-time.
Corbisiero was dominant while Cole also capitalised as Ireland's pack looked dejected, which created the first try of the game on 65 minutes when England were given a five-metre scrum after Tomas O'Leary carried over his line. Referee Nigel Owens had little option.
In the 73rd minute another massive scrum effort led to a further penalty for England and Ben Youngs, who came on for an out-of-sorts Lee Dickson, reacted to tap quickly to scoot over.
Farrell could not land the conversion but added another penalty three minutes from time to complete the victory and rubber stamp another positive step forward for the young side.
Man of the match: Change to Men. England's pack.
Moment of the match: It is harsh to pick on one Irish player but the back-tracking Tomas O'Leary was rather lethargic when running back in an attempt to collect a grubber through. Ultimately he did not have time to clear which meant England had a five-metre scrum that turned into seven points. The hosts turned the screw at the set-piece and the rest is history.
Villain of the match: Despite all the hype, it was relatively clean.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Penalty, Youngs
Con: Farrell
Pen: Farrell 6
For Ireland:
Pen: Sexton 3
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Mike Brown.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mike McCarthy, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Tomas O'Leary, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Fergus McFadden.
Referee: Nigel Owens
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces, Neil Paterson
Television match official: Jim Yuille
By Adam Kyriacou
Comments
isthatrightref says...
If England's scrum holds up in SA they're in with a chance provided their 5/8-of-the-week actually does something with the ball his forwards give him. Ireland on the other hand should do as much sight-seeing as possible so they've got some positive memories to take home from NZ 'cos the rugby is gonna hurt big time.
Posted 21:50 17th March 2012
nabberuk says...
@leinster_goy
After watching the games this morning in the SH I think you should keep your trap shut!
Posted 21:42 17th March 2012
pierredelot1 says...
I've felt that Irelands scrum was not as solid for some time and frankly even if Rodd had stayed on the pressure was beginning to show. But Ireland weren't just outplayed up front, their back row wasn unbalanced and they didn't get the drive on. Ryan held his own but O'Callaghan is past it and O'Leary wasn't good enough. Add to that the demise of D'Arcy, I hate to see class players past their best but he is and should play for Leinster only. Bowe tried hard Trimble also and Kearney is a class act, but Kidney is going to have to use the summer to find some youth and get it in fast. After all O'Connell,O'Driscoll despite their class are not immortal. As for England, they still aren't really functioning in midfield, the wings hardly got a sniff. Foden nowhere near as good as kearney and Brown made more ground when he came on, but the game was dead by then. But the tight five were immense and the back row although lacking an openside, function reasonably well. Dickson had his worst game, this delay from the base is a waste of space (They do that at Saints) and simply allows the opposition to reset but he seemed indecisive today and got cleaned out. Youngs at last showed some form phew Morgan however is a revelation, a bit of the Deano about this one, great ball skills in the main, knows how to hand off, stay on his feet and when to switch the ball from one side to the other, the Scarlets must be really fed up as but for them I doubt he'd be the player he is. robshaw solid on the ball and in defence with Croft at last being able to exploit his pace, Bowe wasn't going to catch him. Pity about the fumble though. Lots to work on, but with a summer tour to come, if England can just improve their patterns and open up a bit, maybe give a few new ones a run, next 6 nations could be interesting.
Posted 21:19 17th March 2012
Swiwi says...
As a Kiwi living in Ireland, I was cringing at that Irish scrum...if you're an Aussie, England might forget Marseille 2007...and is that the last of Darcy, honestly he is the new Mike Tindall. Well, hopefully Ireland can only improve...they better get this sorted out before heading to NZ, otherwise it will be comfortably 0-3.
Posted 21:06 17th March 2012
caramba13 says...
Well played England .. but it was fairly predictable: in fact I predicted this very scenario two days ago:
"It's not Ireland's backs that are worrying me - it's the forwards! They were pushed off the ball by the French and just about held up against the Scots. I think this game will be won (and lost) by the front five. "
Luckily I was 'watching' the match in Toulouse's best Irish Bar -not Trevor Brennan's faux-Oirish corridor - but DUBLINERS, founded by an Ulsterman. But that's beside the point. Irel
Posted 20:58 17th March 2012
keste03 says...
Ferris has been found wanting - writing checks his talent couldnt cash. Inferior to Lydiate and Croft, should be happy to find himself on the plane to Aus. Enjoy your St. Paddy´s day :)
Posted 20:33 17th March 2012
makemehappy says...
A bloody awful game! Thank god for the Welsh in NH rugby! England had a dominant scrum and ............................ yip that was it - nothing else even reached competent on either side!
Posted 20:16 17th March 2012
Chubbylugs says...
I think it is easy to be critical of either side as this was a poor game. But please give credit where it is due, you can only beat what is put in front of you. Game quality is a side issue, we have played 3 games in difficult conditions and prevailed. The margin of the loss vs Wales was so small - you could argue that the game should have been a draw. The French game was the high point where clear progress has been made. Well done England
Posted 20:07 17th March 2012
lawynd says...
England shouldn't have won by as large a margin, and probably wouldn't have done if Ross hadn't gone off injured. I always thought though that, despite the handling errors from both teams, the men in white looked like they would edge it. And the defending of the penalty for Youngs' try was rookie in the extreme.
Posted 19:53 17th March 2012
TVaddict says...
And all that talk on here about the past on Ireland's past victories over us....
It wasn't the best game. Far too many handling errors from both sides. England couldn't seem to get the back line to work together at all, lots of runners seemingly getting lost or surprised to get the pass. However, the scrum was huge! I've never seen us dominate the Irish scrum like that before, and lets face it, it was why we won by such a large margin. I feel like a yellow card should probably have been used, but we won so I guess we can't complain too much.
I feel SL should get the job, he's delivered above what was asked of him. He brought in a large amount of young English talent and almost brought home a 6 nations victory. He's brought respect back to the English jersey, and helped us England rugby fans to feel positive about the national team again.
Posted 19:47 17th March 2012
J_HDK says...
headline should read game won for england by o'leary, court and owen/kidney
Posted 19:34 17th March 2012
Njcal says...
Just proves Ireland have no depth. Even their bench is soft.
Posted 19:30 17th March 2012
leinster_goy says...
well against my better judgment i decided to have a gander at the match and see whether NH international rugby is still as stale and one-paced as it ever was. i certainly wasn't disappointed. the same old story: 3 min-long games of uninterrupted kick tennis, basic handling errors, 2-min scrum set-ups...and people wonder why NZ trolls come on here and mock their NH counterparts?
as for ireland, it seems that kidders/piss-filter hasn't learned anything from past blunders. Sexyboy still being told to stand so deep at 10 that it effectively castrates the entire backline. static, predictable backplay. strange selection decisions and substitutions...is there anyone apart from decco and a few munster cheerleaders who thinks that Sexto should be playing at inside centre? leinster fans like myself really do marvel at that folly
on that last note, i am prepared to put 100 smackers in an envelope and send it by first class courier to anyone who can point to a single positive thing that "ROG" contributed in the 32 minutes he was on the field. that's right, i'm feeling charitable today. any takers?
by the way franck ribery/tomas o'leary, i hear you're off to france next year. here's a brief introduction to la langue gallique: "merde"
in short, my basic prediction has come to full fruition - ireland had a desperately mediocre 6N. i only hope that my other forecast will not materialise - that key leinster players will be injured/burned out from a pointless campaign, thus costing us the heineken and maybe even the rabo. but the one silver lining is that this silly tournament is over, with its boring matches, petty national rivalries and waffling coaches who are, ultimately, only concerned with stats and rankings
"ah well, sure y'know, i've got a 23% better winning rate than eddie o'sullivan, so as far as i'm concerned, i'm happy with that, the players are happy with that..."
Posted 19:29 17th March 2012
hougiebear says...
I've never seen an international scrum that poor, it was painful to watch... we got a right pasting.
Posted 19:16 17th March 2012
papachinzo says...
Lesson, I don't think so... 4 games in a row took its toll on Ross, and Court isn't a tighthead. England destroy the Irish. However, if the Irish scrum had held up, I think we would have been looking at an Irish victory.
Why is O'Leary in the Irish set up, ahead of Stringer and Boss ??
Posted 19:12 17th March 2012
Jediboy says...
Well done England. Good result. However the game was played to a poor standard with far too many mistakes from both sides. I know conditions were bad, but not that bad.
But England's scrum was immense and embarrassed the Irish scrum.
SL must get the job now!!
He has really brought this team together. To finish second in the 6N has far surpassed my expectations and I believe that SL and his coaching team are right to take England forward.
Posted 19:07 17th March 2012
Frank81 says...
Good victory in poor conditions. Well done boys, looking forward to the South African tour, another step up. Lancaster has to get the job now surely?
Posted 19:06 17th March 2012
melkdave says...
Well the irish players talked the talk but couldnt deliver.I know England didnt do much ,but then they didnt need to .Kidey now really has to blood youngsters or go imo.The high ball kicking gameplan is so old and easy to counter now Ireland definatly need a new gameplan
Posted 18:56 17th March 2012