Ireland v England: Five takeaways as Steve Borthwick’s ‘downward spiral’ continues in déjà vu defeat

England fell apart against Ireland in the second half.
Following a 27-22 win for Ireland against England in the Six Nations, here’s James While’s five takeaways from the clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The top line
It was the classic game of two halves combined with a sprinkling of déjà vu as Ireland turned around a poor first-half performance to send England‘s campaign into a downward spiral after the opening round of the 2025 Six Nations.
England rocked the current champions to the core in the first 40 minutes as their three sevens in the back-row suffocated the Irish backs, creating chaos around the breakdown and forcing Ireland to play behind themselves in a quite magnificent first 40 minutes.
But after the break, Ireland’s newfound accuracy coupled with England’s indiscipline turned the match on its head as the hosts came out a different side after the break. Much of it was self-inflicted; missed tackles abounded, Cadan Murley defended as if he’d never played a game of XVs before and Ireland completely dominated the airways, as England were pinned back in their own half, unable to exit, for large periods of the game.
Ireland’s tries came from Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne and the outstanding Dan Sheehan, returning from injury and making a massive impact, with England grabbing three from Murley, their outstanding player Tom Curry and a last-minute effort from Tommy Freeman.
England grabbed a bonus point at the end of the game but they had their chance to take this match and close it out – the simple truth is yet again they failed to do so.
Key battlegrounds – part one
The first half saw England teach Ireland a lesson about their own ruck superpower as the Curry twins and Ben Earl skinned them at the breakdown. It was accurate, fast competitive stuff – defining and replaying Ireland’s very own 3B rule – Blitz, Bang and Barge – right back at them. Tom Curry was a relentless machine, showing that as his injury-ravaged body has slowed down a tad, his intellect and abrasion is still as evident as ever.
The centres purred with Ollie Lawrence the outstanding back on the pitch for virtually the whole game and Henry Slade making a mockery of those who’d suggested that his Test days were over as he treated us to some silky skills, his chip setting up Murley for a try on debut with his first touch of the ball being sublime.
The pressure that back-row exerted on Ireland was suffocating; Sam Prendergast slipped further and further back, as he and the Irish backline became static and lateral, forced to play well behind their pack and failing to get any momentum into their game. It was remarkable stuff from the three tyros and their commitment, accuracy and intelligence destroyed Ireland’s platform, whilst on the other side, they gave their forwards, led by Smith, Lawrence and Slade, real momentum and space with which to work in.
Concerns over the lineout were assuaged as Maro Itoje’s timing and Luke Cowan-Dickie’s accuracy showed what could be achieved with precision, and everything in the garden looked rosy as Steve Borthwick‘s selection gambles looked to have become bankers in the space of 40 short minutes.
However, England had already tested the trigger-happy patience of Ben O’Keeffe in those opening salvos. The Kiwi ref, a man who never knowingly goes unnoticed, dished out the first yellow after only three penalties from England and from that moment, the relationship between the officials and Itoje went rolling downhill as clear tension emerged between them. And to add insult to injury, we saw Gibson-Park take a wonderful line through in the 34st minute, just as Smith’s card had finished, but the tackling that preceded it, one from Alex Mitchell that may have been forgiven and the other from Freddie Steward that most certainly won’t be, brought the visitors back into the match at half-time at 10-5.
Key battlegrounds – part two
As Ireland emerged from the tunnel, they did so with the focus on getting their precision and breakdown momentum back into their game. They needed a moment to feed off and it came from Murley as he had his first brain fart, trying to pick up a ball bobbling into touch from a direct kick, as he feared the incoming Josh van der Flier. In any other game, Murley would have acted differently, but his howler was the start of 23 minutes where the only times England got out of their own half was when they restarted.
Ireland’s confidence grew palpably; they got on the right side of three consecutive penalties, one at scrum, one in the air and one in the lineout, that really were beyond marginal, but when momentum comes your way you grasp it with both hands and you don’t let go, and that’s exactly what Ireland did, pinning England in the last third of their pitch as they mounted wave upon wave of power running to eventually unleash Aki down the touchline to power his way over.
If that wasn’t bad enough, England unloaded their bench on the hour mark, presumably because Borthwick’s reoccurring 60-minute alarm went on his phone as there wasn’t many obvious rugby reasons for the changes. Equally predictably, Chandler Cunningham-South, who had an untidy and indisciplined match, missed a vital tackle in midfield to see Beirne feed off the cantering James Lowe to absolutely rock England to their core.
With Sheehan nipping on for an absolute cameo, one that saw him touch the ball three times in the build-up to his own try, it was good night Vienna for England, as they yet again conspired to destroy their own early foundations with an appalling last quarter, one that saw seven penalties and two free kicks cripple any chance they had of exiting and reigniting their attack.
Bench comparisons
Borthwick might want to reflect post-match that great replacement strategies are based upon timing and feel, not historic match statistics nor the potential of the players on the bench.
What really happened in the middle of the Aviva Stadium is England stopped playing the game that had given them success and hope – fast, abrasive and accurate – into a power-focused lumbering cudgel-based focus, one that a highly skilled side like Ireland would and did relish. With the possible exception of Fin Smith and Theo Dan, not one player made any impact or any uplift of the temp or the player they replaced. Cunningham-South conceded three vital penalties and missed a key tackle. Ollie Chessum’s 6’7″ made no impact at the low level of the Irish breakdown, one that had struggled hugely with the artisan work of Ben Curry and Ben Earl.
With Harry Randall coming on and playing as if he’d been introduced to the rest of his team in the hotel foyer, it was one of the most frustrating 30 minutes of English carelessness witnessed in a long time, and that’s really saying something.
For Ireland, it was a bomb squad that exploded as promised; Jack Conan add direct abrasion, Jack Crowley, unblemished from the pounding that Prendergast had experienced, looked a cut above his starting colleague, whilst as previously noted, Sheehan simply reminded us all that Ireland have missed the brilliance of arguably the best hooker in the world for far too long.
Implications
The first half left you wondering if this is an Irish side growing old together and not having quite the regenerative depth you might have thought. They are a side that are based upon teamwork and organisation, but even accepting that, you felt that they lacked half a yard of the gas we’ve seen a couple of seasons ago.
But they’re not a top three side for no reason and when they played their own way, got their precision going and managed to get rhythm into their three-man arrowheads off nine, then they caused England problems, but given the power of the French and the breakdown skill of the Scots, both of those teams will be fancying their chances against a great Irish team that looks to be just sneaking past the apex of their formidable powers.
For England and Borthwick it was Groundhog Day. The 11th loss against a top-four ranked side in 12 attempts during his tenure tells you a lot – but the most telling statistic of all is that in 10 of those games England were ahead after 50 minutes.
Today he got a lot of his planning right – but where he failed was to send on replacements that play a completely different style of game to those who were succeeding for the first 50 minutes of the game. We saw some howlers from quality players – Murley’s comedic work in the in-goal area twice; Slade playing like a rugby god in the first half, then getting picked off one on one by hookers and locks in the second as his game and confidence fell apart.
It is impossible to work out what the next Borthwick move will be – but in simple terms it should be threefold – firstly, increase the discipline – seven penalties in 33 minutes is far too many. Secondly, take the good from today and amplify it – England don’t have that many big quality back-rows in the Premiership but they have many smaller ones who are pure craftsmen – they need to use what they have. Thirdly, pick a style that is consistent with the players you have and can last 80 minutes. If they don’t focus on those key points then when France visits Twickenham next Saturday it could well be a repeat of the 2023 humiliation.