ENGLAND 16 IRELAND 20
Charlie Mulqueen, Twickenham
TOMMY Bowe struck for two magnificent tries as Ireland produced a memorable and indeed heroic performance to pip England in a Twickenham thriller. It was real backs to the wall stuff by the Irish who, however, scored three glorious tries to one pushover effort by the home side.
Ireland number eight Jamie Heaslip was named man of the match but all the Irish were heroes with the ardent hope last night that the knock Brian O’Driscoll took to the head and caused his premature retirement doesn’t prove too serious.
The weekend began with fears that the Ireland captain might not play because of a stomach bug. Then he tweeted and all was good with the world again.
Until, that is, we sat down to breakfast this morning and opened our newspaper to read the following headline: “The way to victory? Target the weakest link - O’Driscoll.” Given that Brian was supposed to be Ireland’s trump card, that certainly came as a shock to the system. Nor did it help that the piece was written by the former Lions and England centre Will Greenwood and he should know what he’s talking about.
On the one hand, the bold Will spoke of his admiration for O’Driscoll and on the other informed us that he wasn’t suited to Ireland’s drift defence, that he had been directly responsible for the French tries a fortnight earlier by Poitrenaud and Jauzion and even contributed to the injury that caused Rob Kearney’s premature retirement at the Stade de France.
Better then, you thought ominously, that the stomach bug that laid Drico low on Friday had in fact kept him out of the action. After all, who wants a passenger like that in his side!?
The talking points before the kick-off were the poor state of the Twickenham surface - it was far from pristine - and whether centenarian John Hayes would lead Ireland out. The Bull mightn’t have wanted to do it but his team mates gave him no option and a mighty roar greeted his arrival at the head of affairs. He even looked a tad emotional as the band belted out Ireland’s Call!
Australian referee Mark Lawrence saw good reason to ping Hayes twice early on but it was still the kind of start Ireland would have dreamt of. Cian Healy and Keith Earls did mightily well to force a turnover and Stephen Ferris also took a crucial part before the backs swept into the attack. Jonny Sexton placed the most beautiful little kick through and behind the English defence and Tommy Bowe left Lewis Moody dead in the race for the touch down.
England, though, were commanding more of the possession and the Irish were putting in a massive number of tackles. Would that tell in the fatigue stakes later on? They were fortunate, too, when Earls appeared to take out Delon Armitage after a chip kick by Wilkinson although the out-half did narrow the gap for England almost immediately.
As the rain teemed down, Ireland at last began to get their hands on the ball and Sexton duly took advantage with a penalty from 30 metres after Paul O’Connell stole an English throw. The Irish would like to have brought Earls more into the game as he made one terrific break but the conditions were no help. And England were back to within two points of the Irish when Wilkinson landed a fine goal from 45 metres.
The game looked to have swung Ireland’s way with their second try which resulted directly from a penalty reversal after a spat between the rival scrum-halves. Sexton found touch at the corner flag, O’Connell won the line-out, O’Leary moved to the short side to Sexton whose perfectly timed ball sent Earls over in the corner.
But the out-half missed his fourth kick from five attempts and almost immediately England were on terms when TMO Carlo Damasco deemed that hooker Dan Cole had got the touch down after a fierce ruck under the Irish posts. Wilkinson tapped over the conversion and it was level pegging at 13-all. A few moments later, Tony Buckley came in for O’Driscoll, who was left dazed after his head came in contact with O’Connell’s knee.
England owned the ball and although Wilkinson missed a penalty he would once have put over with ease, he pushed England into the lead for the first time with a superb right footed drop goal on seventy minutes.
Then Tommy Bowe struck for a magnificent second try after good work by O’Connell in the line-out and strong running by O’Leary. Recent arrival Ronan O’Gara converted, Ireland by four points and held on in face of intensive English pressure in the dying minutes.
ENGLAND - D. Armitage; M. Cueto, M. Tait, R. Flutey, U. Monye; J. Wilkinson, D. Care; T. Payne, D. Hartley, D. Cole, S. Shaw, S. Borthwick capt, J. Haskell, L. Moody, N. Easter.
Replacements -L. Deacon for Shaw 5 mins; B. Soden for Armitage 48; J. Worsley for Moody 54; L. Meers for Hartley 62; P. Hodgson for Care 72; D. Wilson for Care 72.
IRELAND - G. Murphy; T. Bowe, B. O’Driscoll capt, G. D’Arcy, K. Earls; J. Sexton, T. O’Leary; C. Healy, R. Best, J. Hayes, D. O’Callaghan, P. O’Connell, S. Ferris, D. Wallace, J. Heaslip.
Replacements - T. Buckley for Hayes 60; A. Trimble for O’Driscoll 63; R. O’Gara and L. Cullen for Sexton and O’Callaghan 68; S. Jennings for Wallace 69;
Referee - M. Lawrence (South Africa).
