David Corkery
Not entirely a performance of completeness, but a victory of work-man-like qualities that will stand Ireland in the long run.
The tackle will always be king on the rugby pitch and England will undoubtably be cursing a few one on one disastrous confrontations which led to Ireland taking control of this their first Six Nations game of 2025. However, in saying that Ireland were fully deserving of their victory and it wasn’t the missed tackles that allowed for this Irish side to walk off the Aviva’s surface with a bag full of points.
If there was ever a game of two halves this was it, and whatever Simon Easterby discussed with his players during the half-time break seemed to have made a world of difference because the Irish team that emerged for the second forty minutes were a far smarter side to the one that went in.
I doubt it very much that anyone would have predicted that England would be coming to Dublin to have their ego’s massaged and they certainly started this game like a side that had a solid purpose to their visit.
Ever since the game of Rugby Union turned professional there has been a massive swing towards implementing a blitz like rush defence against the attacking team and what we witnessed on Saturday was an English side that seemed to have built their entire game plan around leaving Ireland win their line-outs uncontested and placing all their trust in the swiftness of their defensive capabilities.
One of Irelands glaring weaknesses during the Autumn internationals was their poor lineout return so with this in mind you would have thought that England would have challenged Irelands jumpers at every opportunity, but strangely this was not to be.
Instead Steve Borthwick put all his trust in his first line of defence in an attempt to halt Irelands advances, therefore forcing Sam Prendergast and Jamison Gibson Park to kick away possession a lot more often than they would have planned.
Borthwick also opted to pick the Curry twins in the English backrow who in modern day rugby terms are not the tallest. This was done so that England could have two out and out scavengers at the breakdown which would put a halt to the speed of ball that Gibson Park had to work with.
For the first forty minutes of the game Borthwick’s plan was working a treat and Ireland looked a bit shell shocked.
Unable to turn territory into points despite multiple excursions into the visitors twenty-two, England’s defensive fortifications looked to have the measure of anything Ireland were throwing at them and were full value for their ten points to five lead at the half time whistle.
Sam Prendergast who was controversially chosen ahead of Munster’s Jack Crowley to don the all-important number ten jersey for this game was doing all that he could with the average supply of ball he was receiving and had a solid outing. I’m sure he’d like to have shone a bit brighter during his first Six Nations start, but there is very little you could fault him for and some of his passing was just sublime.
At just twenty one years of age, he has the world at his feet and it will be very interesting to see who is handed the jersey for next weeks day out in Edinburgh against the traditionally sticky Scott’s.
Considering the obscene amount of experience in this Irish side I don’t think the Irish dressing room would have been filled with panic or worry at the mid term interval.
Simon Easterby who is looking after the team in Andy Farrells absence is a very composed individual by nature and his message to the players would have centred around holding on to the ball for longer periods before opting to kick it.
He would have also spoke about just how flat England were defending and that there was a serious amount of space just in behind their first line of defence that could be exploited.
One of the key things that started to unfold as soon as the second half commenced was that the Irish forwards really started to gain the upper hand and as soon as they started to win all their own personal battels with their opposite number, Ireland very quickly assumed ascendency and the scores started to flow.
A try each from Bundee Aki (51st ), Tadhg Beirne (63rd ) and substitute Dan Sheehan (71st) allowed for Ireland to show case all their class.
Much credit must also go to the impact that the Irish substitutes had when they were launched from the bench and while each played their own little part in this victory, the three that impressed me the most were Jack Crowley, Jack Conan and Dan Sheehan.
Both Crowley and Conan brought with them that little bit of pace and attack that was needed, but what Sheehan introduced was just world class.
Not since the great Keith Wood retired have we had a hooker with so much skill and all round ability.
Just back from a serious knee injury which the Leinster man picked up seven months ago Sheehan will unquestionably start in next week’s game and if he can remain match fit, he will be the B&I Lions hooker when they travel to Australia in just over five months’ time.
England did manage to score two late tries in the game that must be addressed by this Irish side albeit, at that point the game was a foregone conclusion.
Next week’s game against Scotland will be a completely different challenge for Easterby and I would expect a few changes to the starting fifteen, but as far as I can see at this point the only team that will challenge Ireland this year are the French and guess what?
We have them at home 