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England's crushing victory over Ireland keeps Triple Crown hopes alive

PA

England’s claim they were ready to rediscover the form that swept them to last autumn’s World Cup final materialised into a crushing 24-12 victory over Ireland at Twickenham, keeping their Triple Crown hopes alive.

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There were shades of the knockout phase romps against Australia and New Zealand as Eddie Jones’ men ended the Irish Grand Slam march in destructive fashion, leaving France as the Guinness Six Nations’ only unbeaten team.

From start to finish they tore into opponents who never recovered from an early onslaught and whose fingers found the self-destruct button with alarming frequency.

George Ford and Elliot Daly poached tries that propelled title-chasing England out of sight after 25 minutes, both of them profiting from blunders by Johnny Sexton and Jacob Stockdale behind the whitewash.

By the end of the first half Ireland had spent only 31 seconds in the enemy 22 and, although they eventually became a more cohesive attacking force, they never looked remotely capable of overcoming a 17-0 interval deficit.

WATCH: Wales post-match press conference with head coach Wayne Pivac and captain Alun Wyn Jones after 27-23 Guinness Six Nations defeat to France in Cardiff.

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Luke Cowan-Dickie crossed for the third try and Owen Farrell kicked three conversions and a penalty as England’s mastery of the Irish was extended to a third successive rout.

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Ireland’s failings were collective but at the heart of their collapse was Sexton, who never recovered from an awful start and butchered five easy points from the kicking tee at important moments.

It was not the return to Twickenham hoped for by Andy Farrell and this day belonged to his son Owen, who cut a composed figure as he drove England onwards to a triumph that relieves pressure on the Jones regime.

Daly and the unstoppable Manu Tuilagi were influential in a promising start but a poor pass from Ben Youngs found Courtney Lawes’ head instead of his hands as England moved to within inches of the line.

Youngs made amends by firing a smart grubber that led to the opening try but Sexton, who was under pressure from Farrell and deceived by a cruel bounce, was also to blame as he failed to gather the ball as it bobbled over the whitewash to allow Ford to touch down.

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The opening quarter deteriorated further for Sexton as he produced two poor kicks in a row before hooking a shot at goal horribly wide.

Aided by Ireland’s refusal to contest line-outs, England resumed their advance downfield with Tuilagi’s power across the gainline helping them on to the front foot.

Daly was revelling in his return to full-back for the first time since the World Cup final and it was the Saracen who plundered the second try as Stockdale inexplicably dithered over Ford’s cute kick, offering the score on a plate.

Triple Crown

The first half unfolded against the backdrop of Farrell’s constant dialogue with referee Jaco Peyper as Ireland were repeatedly bullied in contact, with man-of-the-match Lawes their chief agitator.

At times England’s attack was overly frantic and too reliant on kicking, but with the white shirts winning just about every collision and then defending ferociously they could afford moments of inaccuracy.

The first half finished with a pumped-up Kyle Sinckler being escorted off the pitch after the Harlequins prop had given Ireland a tongue lashing at another breakdown dominated by a pack that had their feet on opposition throats.

Ireland emerged from the interval with their purpose restored and their urgency was evident as CJ Stander hammered his palm into Farrell’s stomach in an attempt to make the centre let go of his leg.

Robbie Henshaw barged over from close range to round off a spell of Irish ascendancy but as Sexton yanked the conversion and England resumed their offensive, a comeback appeared unlikely.

A line-out drive ended with Cowan-Dickie emerging with the ball and, although Ireland had the final say with a stoppage time try by Andrew Porter, it failed to distract from a heavy defeat.

Press Association

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Did the best of Ireland leave with Johnny Sexton and Stuart Lancaster?

Lets hope the North can have some sort of renaissance now if Sexton had been the cherished one of the game up there, it will help elevate the game to the next level. Because there is a lot of 'woe is now' talk over the last two weeks, something or someone needs to light the fire again.


Otherwise though, using a bit of sanity, Ireland and the rest just need to reset and adjust to the new (same old) dynamic of dominance. They have the ability to compete still but this sort of talk or that of sacking Faz will send the game back a decade to where the story of this article begins.


Personally, I would have Faz to have continued with Lancasters sideways attack through the WC (and going forward/now). He was successful then of pulling off tough fought victories like that against SA (WC and this year) but I think it veering far from the winning DNA Lancaster had instilled. Teams might have found them out, but even without Lancaster onboard I'd have liked to see the three other coaching groups, along with Irelands, continue on to work out the weekends of of that structure. To me it looks to have been jettisoned completely and I'm lost for words as to why.


Is it just that the standard of the URC is not good enough, at least in this early stage of the season, to get players match ready for Test match football? Why are they starting late into the window, and not playing their second game of the season? All the excuses I'm hearing aren't painting the picture of NH rugby in a good light for me, theyre looking at all the wrong areas. The fusion of Nienaber and Irish rugby should be producing a golden period of dual strengths but unfortunately Ireland already put paid to that possibility even before Jacques got a chance to mold it for them.


They do need to take a cold hard look at who they are, what made them good, and what they want to be. NZ have done that this year with Razor and it has not been easy to prepare to dig in for some hard times.

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