Simon Easterby on what Ireland fixed in the second half against England

Simon Easterby praised Ireland’s composure after they battled back from a half-time deficit to beat England 27-22 in Dublin.

Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne and Dan Sheehan each touched down for the back-to-back champions under interim head coach Easterby, who’s taken the reins with Andy Farrell on British & Irish Lions duty.

England struck first via debutant Cadan Murley, with Marcus Smith adding a penalty despite his sin-binning in the opening period.

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The second half was a diffent story – Ireland exploited gaps and punished errors, aided by Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley from the tee. Late tries by Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman narrowed the gap, but Ireland prevailed.

“I think the first half, it’s first round of the Six Nations, England here in Dublin, it’s always going to be a bit of an arm-wrestle. It’s nothing we didn’t expect,” he said.

“We had to find a way. I thought we played well in patches in the first half, we didn’t quite get our accuracy right, and that’s probably why the scoreline was in their favour.

“We felt at half time if we did a few things better, that we would get the rewards, and we did that.

“Our accuracy, we had lots of opportunities in their 22, but didn’t quite make the most of them. They defended well and made it tough for us. I think on reflection we’ll be happy with the way our set-piece went, and we set up some lovely opportunities through that.

“Up until the last couple of minutes, defence was okay. We know we need to be better next weekend.”

Ireland now face a determined Scotland next Sunday, with Scotland centre Huw Jones urging his side to prove themselves by finally toppling the Irish. The Scots, last victorious over Ireland in 2017, crave a “really special performance” to snap a 10-game losing streak and show they have grown into real Six Nations contenders.