Manu Tuilagi impressed in Dublin, scoring his 2nd try in two appearences for England
Both teams arrived at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin knowing that a loss would leave the losing team with low morale before heading to New Zealand. Mike Tindall was selected to Captain England in Lewis Moody’s absence and Paul O’Connell was given the skipper’s armband for Ireland, with Brian O’Driscoll rested. A late change for England was forced because Nick Easter failed a fitness test. Hendre Fourie, who was devastated to miss out on a place to the World Cup, was drafted in to replace him. This resulted in James Haskell being moved to the No.8 shirt.
Jonny Wilkinson kicked off the match in front of 48,500 people and Eoin Reddan cleared the pressure with a box-kick. Ben Foden took the ball well and England threw the ball wide, attacking the open space down the left-wing. There were some promising early driving plays from James Haskell and Andrew Sheridan as England played themselves into the Irish 22. There was some excellent first-line defence from Ireland and they pushed England backwards. Wilkinson attempted a huge drop-goal; but unfortunately, he dragged the kick to the right of the uprights.
England had a devastatingly powerful first scrum as they drove the hosts backwards. The first set-piece move was a simple delayed pass from Tindall onto Manu Tuilagi, who picked a strong line and he brushed off two would be Irish tacklers and cantered towards the line for England’s 1st try. This was a perfect start for England and their new centre partnership. Wilkinson slotted the conversion attempt with pinpoint accuracy, with the ball flying end over end over the black stripe on the middle of the cross-bar. Ireland 0 - England 7
England fielded the kick-off poorly as they knocked on and they went off their feet at the breakdown, giving the Irish a kickable penalty. However, Ronan O’Gara boldly elected to kick to the corner. The decision was warmly cheered by the Irish fans. Unfortunately for them however, after the line-out, Haskell stole the ball from the maul and Fourie powered forwards. Wilkinson cleared the pressure to Geordan Murphy, who replied with a kick of his own. Foolishly, Courtney Lawes blocked Murphy and gave away a penalty. This time O’Gara went for goal and successfully opened up Ireland’s scoring account. Ireland 3 - England 7
England next went with a short-kick off, the tactic that worked so well in Cardiff two weeks ago. England forced a penalty from a resulting scum and Wilkinson slotted the kick from about 35 metres out. Ireland 3 - England 10
England once again failed to deal with the restart as the English forwards fumbled the ball. Andrew Trimble made a powerful break through the English defence and he won the Irish a penalty. Once again, O’Gara went to the corner. The Irish were not interested in taking the percentages and kicking at goal, they were going for the jugular, which would cost them in the end. In New Zealand they cannot be so aggressive and they will need to the points as they come. The line-out went to the tail of the Irish forwards and a few powerful phases followed. Ireland was awarded a penalty, which was taken quickly. Luckily, Mark Cueto intercepted and he stopped a near certain try.
After a clearance kick from Wilkinson, Tommy Bowe caught the ball and it looked like he had one foot in touch. The touch judge’s flag went up, but play continued. Bowe threw the ball infield and Ireland ran hard and fast at the English backs. Keith Earls side-stepped Ben Foden with great agility and Ireland kept making inroads into English territory. The Irish attacked the short-side on the right wing and Tuilagi put in a thumping tackle on David Wallace, who unfortunately was winded and also badly twisted his knee. He was taken off the field and the Irish fans will be hoping it was only a minor strain and his World Cup dreams have not been dashed. The English defence was offside before Wallace was pushed into touch and O’Gara was given another opportunity in front of the posts. He made the easy penalty goal count and made the score Ireland 6 - England 10
Mark Cueto went off at this stage and was replaced by Delon Armitage. Foden found space and kicked ahead for the English backs to chase, where O’Gara fielded the kick and jinked his way around James Haskell. England then stole the ball and won a penalty for a questionable high tackle on Courtney Lawes. However, Wilkinson banged over the penalty and increased England’s lead. Ireland 6 - England 13
Off the back of an overthrown line-out, Tuilagi picked the ball up in midfield and made a surging 90-metre break. He looked to be in for a second try; however, he was expertly hauled down by Geordan Murphy. England looked to spread the ball out wide and a try seemed to be there for the taking. The ball made its way out to Lawes who had Chris Ashton and Ben Foden outside of him. One of the Irish defenders covering the two pace-men slipped, and Lawes only had to put in a simple pass to put one of the Northampton men in for a try. However, he tried to be too clever and with the subtle hands of a rhino, he chucked the ball into touch. Foden strongly rebuked his teammate, knowing that a try scoring chance in New Zealand cannot be missed like that. Lawes may have literally thrown his chance of a starting position away with that foolish error.
A few scrappy phases of possession followed and then England gave away a penalty 30 metres out from their line. This time, O’Gara did not choose to go for the corner. He slotted the penalty, bridging the gap between the two teams. He made the score: Ireland 9 - England 13
The Irish had some strong possession in the English 22 and tested England’s defensive line. The ball squirted its way out into touch and the half-time whistle blew.
Half Time Ireland 9 England 13
At half-time, Martin Johnson’s men were not showing any signs of repeating their performance from at the end of the Six Nations that lost them the Grand Slam. Manu Tuilagi was having a great game; he made an impressive 90 metre break and scored a powerful solo try. James Haskell also showed his strength and ball-carrying ability in the first-half. With Nick Easter a fitness doubt, English fans will be confident if Haskell gets the call to carry the No. 8 shirt for the World Cup.
Early in the second-half, Chris Ashton picked up a yellow card. This was a big blow for England and the next ten-minutes with Ashton in the sin-bin were crucial for the visitors. A relatively simple penalty attempt from O’Gara bounced off the right –hand upright, where Tindall gathered the ball and cleared the ball towards the halfway line.
From a scrum, England dominated and forced a penalty. The line-out was well taken by Tom Croft and England set up a driving maul. After a series of phases, Tindall put through a delightfully weighted kick for Armitage to chase. Armitage won the foot race and touched down for England’s second try. Wilkinson made the conversion look simple from near the left touchline. Ireland 9 -England 20
England won a penalty from the restart and Wigglesworth took it quickly. He had Tindall in support, who put through another kick, however this time he did not have a speedster chasing, he had hooker Steve Thompson running after the ball.
Usually, teams that go a man down due to a sin-bin lose on average 7-10 points in the resulting 10 minutes. However, Ashton sauntered back on to the pitch with England up 7 points in the sin-bin period, demonstrating England’s great defensive play. Dylan Hartley came on to keep England’s front row would on their toes and give some energy to the loose play. England was left to defend as Ireland kicked to the corner.
The two captains were given a talking to by referee Nigel Owens as the penalty counts were high. England were initially penalised for an infringement at the breakdown, but the touch judge ruled that Keith Earls had tackled Foden around the neck. However, the experienced Jonny Wilkinson missed touch and instead, he found the in-goal area and gave away a scrum.
England won a penalty and kicked to the corner. The England forwards won a sloppy line-out and a few phases later, at a ruck, Ireland looked to be blatantly offside, but the referee did not give a penalty. The Irish backs broke away and Earls kicked ahead, however, it was too far ahead of the chasing Irish players. After the 22 metre drop-out, Ireland won a scrum inside their half and Ronan O’Gara kicked downfield. He was looking for territory to get Ireland back in the game.
Richard Wigglesworth was having s good game and fielded a kick with authority. However, a few phases later, his box kick was charged down by Paul O’Connell and he gave possession away to the Irish. Jonathan Sexton, who replaced O’Gara, made a great break into the English 22. Ireland completely demolished an English scrum and kicked to the corner. The Irish backs pushed England with strong runs inside the English 22. However, Tindall used all his strength and experience to rip the ball off the Irish forwards. Wilkinson then cleared well up to the half-way line.
With six minutes left in the game, Ireland was awarded a 5 metre scrum. Tindall came off for Toby Flood in the final plays of the game. From a messy scrum, Sexton tried to make a break through the English defence. However, the Irish replacement scrum-half Eoin Reddan kicked possession away with a cross-kick. Ireland ran the clock down and then Flood dived on loose ball. The final whistle went.
Full time Ireland 9 - England 9
My man of the match Manu Tuilagi: he was exceptional in defence and he made a huge break in the 1st half and scored England’s first try. He was closely, followed by Tindall who made breaks, tackled hard and kicked beautifully for England’s second try.
Who impressed?
Manu Tuilagi- another fine performance from the young centre. He was always a threat in attack and was imperious in defence.
Mike Tindall- led the side well and tackled everything in an Irish shirt. His kick ahead for Armitage was fantastic and he did the basics well.
James Haskell - powerful off the back of the scrum and was a danger in the loose. He showed today that he is very capable of being England’s 1st choice No. 8.
Who did not impress?
Courtney Lawes had an error-strewn game. He made handling errors and butchered a simple try for England with an outrageous out of the back of his hand pass that flew into touch. He may have lost his starting place with that performance.
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