TWICKENHAM, London — It took Ireland 70 minutes to finally break England’s resolve. Having been reduced to 14 men after just 82 seconds, England showed incredible defiance to frustrate and bother Ireland and at one stage, it looked like Eddie Jones’ players were going to pull off one of the most remarkable victories in living memory. Ultimately, the pressure and personnel told to steer Ireland home by a commanding 17-point margin, complete with the bonus point, having kept their composure amid the chaos.
Supporters were still trying to find their seats as Charlie Ewels walked off in just the second minute of the game. He was shown a red card by Mathieu Raynal for a dangerous tackle on Ireland’s James Ryan. The head-on-head contact, instigated by Ewels, led to clumsy, dangerous act which ended Ryan’s game, and also the England second-row’s. By the letter of the law, it was the correct call to red card Ewels in what was the quickest red card in the Six Nations championship’s history.
For the second match running, Ireland would play against depleted opponents. And they found it immensely difficult to break down England, who played through a combination of raw emotion — spurred by a bouncing Twickenham — and disciplined organisation to frustrate Ireland. England had the ascendancy in the set piece — winning six scrum penalties — and enjoyed the bulk of possession. For 70 or so minutes they were heroic. But ultimately Ireland bided their time, kept their composure, to strike twice in the final 10 minutes through Jack Conan and Finlay Bealham to wrestle this one over the line.
“The composure we showed at 15-all to stick to our task and come away with the bonus point, we should be immensely proud of that,” Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said. “We learnt a lot about ourselves and we didn’t allow the fightback.”
Ireland headed into the game as heavy favourites, and west London was a mix of quiet Irish optimism and English tentative hope in the build up. The atmosphere was already bouncing when the match started, and after Ewels’ red card it led to general English animosity from the stands towards Raynal, while Ireland looked to exploit the numerical advantage.
James Lowe scored their first try after six minutes, and they added another after Jamison Gibson-Park quick-tapped a penalty to put Hugo Keenan over. An early injury to vice-captain Tom Curry was another blow for the hosts, but bubbling away was a frustrated, bothered England. All week Jones had been hammering home the importance of physicality from his England side, and how his underdogs were going to be chasing Ireland down the street. It laid the foundations for an England team who flew out of the blocks, but Ewels failed to toe the disciplinary tightrope.
But England, for 70 minutes, didn’t play as if they were a man down. Instead of letting their heads drop they channelled it into a frenzy. “It sounds ridiculous, but that was one of the proudest days I’ve had in an England shirt,” Jamie George said. They had heroic performances throughout: Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler, who was replaced by Will Stuart at the break due to injury, had the Irish front-row’s number and forced their six scrum penalties. Given Ireland had a back-pedalling scrum, they were lucky not to lose someone to the sin-bin — and all that with Jack Nowell playing at flanker.
Nowell was superb on the wing — more often than not defensively — while Joe Marchant was heroic at inside centre. George was monumental and chief conductor as every penalty, or knock on was greeted like England had won the World Cup. And then there was Maro Itoje. He was a doubt heading into the match through illness, but showed no ill effects against Ireland. In short, he was magnificent as he ensured a stable set piece, while chasing down anything and everything in green.
“It was a great learning experience for this team, I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Jones said. “I see that as a foundation game for us.
“I’m a bit disappointed the referee didn’t allow us to scrum fully and play advantage away from the scrum, we got the penalties and there was no sign of a yellow card,” Jones said. “We’re disappointed we didn’t get more out of that.”
For all the heroism, this will still go down as a bonus point victory for Ireland. Gibson-Park was the man who kept them ticking over and on track while England did their best to wrestle things back. Tadhg Beirne was outstanding, while Andrew Conway put in two beautiful 50:22 kicks to halt England’s momentum. Their penalty count will alarm Andy Farrell — Ireland finished with 15 compared to England’s eight — but this was a game about composure in the face of defiance.
Ireland were clearly aggrieved at some of the first-half decision-making by Raynal. Johnny Sexton, who finished with 12 points, could be heard questioning a smattering of decisions, but to Ireland’s huge credit, they never panicked. Even when the game was threatening to fall in England’s favour, Ireland stuck to their processes and waited for the waves to calm to strike back.
“Had you told us that before the game that we were going to win with a bonus point, I’d have snapped your hand off,” Sexton said. “At times we didn’t play our best, but it was outstanding from the lads to keep to task and there were a couple of tries at the end that were very important in the race.”
Farrell’s team now have a shot at winning the Six Nations as they host Scotland in the final weekend. They sit two points behind unbeaten France, who host England in Paris. Having broken English hearts, they now need a favour from Jones’ men if they’re to win their first championship since 2018.
For England, they must bottle this performance and harness the spirit and intensity they showed against Ireland as they travel to Paris. Again England will go there as underdogs, but the passion and fire they showed at Twickenham on Saturday must become their benchmark heading forward.