England 21-10 Ireland

England 21-10 Ireland

There was much talk about Jonny Sexton in the build up to this game, but in the end it was all about the power of the English pack on the day. England came out of the blocks quickly and dominated proceedings for almost the first halfs entirety. Buoyed by the power of Billy Vunipola, England attacked at will, making huge in roads into the Irish half. Dylan Hartley went over after 20 minutes, only to be just held up by debutante Stuart McCloskey. Moments later, Billy Vunipola took advantage of some confusion at a maul to peel off and go close, only to be just stopped by CJ Stander. Ireland defended admirably, and somehow managed to survive the half just 6-3 in arrears.

Ireland looked transformed at the beginning of the second half, as their pack began to make inroads into the English half. Having upped their aggression, Josh Van der Flier and Stander went close before Murray made a trademark snipe to just get over the line. Farrell responded almost instantly for England from the tee, leaving the game finely poised at 10-9 as the game entered its final stanza. Henshaw and McCloskey looked to be growing into the game, but the large periods of defence in the first half clearly began to take its toll. England launched Billy Vunipola once more at the Irish defence, and twice in quick succession space was made out wide for Watson and then Brown to score. Ireland looked dead and buried at this stage, but Ultan Dillane came on to make a real difference to the Irish attack. His break got Ireland deep into the English half, where Care was binned for not rolling away. Two phases later Van der Flier went over again, but without a clear view of the ball, the TMO could not award a try and England closed the game out from there.