A fine brace of tries from Ireland wing Tommy Bowe ended England's Grand Slam hopes at Twickenham on Saturday as Ireland defeated England 20-16.
Ireland took the lead through Bowe's early try and a penalty from Jonny Sexton, to two from Jonny Wilkinson, gave the Irish an 8-6 half-time lead.
A Keith Earls try gave Ireland a seven-point lead before Wilkinson converted Dan Cole's try to make it 13-13.
Wilkinson then put England ahead with a drop-goal but Bowe's late try and Ronan O'Gara's conversion saw Ireland home.
It was a thrilling end to a match which for long periods looked like it might never really catch alight due to the extremely poor conditions.
England will have dominated the possession and territory when you read the statistics but it was Ireland’s greater experience, cutting edge and ability to convert their opportunities which brought victory to the visiting side.
Heading into this game both teams had been coming under some serious scrutiny. Ireland following their defeat to France and England after their lacklustre display in Rome.
Declan Kidney responded to the criticism by dropping Ronan O’Gara and giving Jonny Sexton his Six Nations debut aswell as recalling Geordan Murphy, Donnacha O’Callaghan and Rory Best. Whereas England coach, Martin Johnson, stuck by his stubborn nature and kept faith with the same XV which beat Italy two weeks earlier.
Johnson wanted his England team to up their game and if words were to be believed then Ireland were going to be in for a lesson in Rugby Union. But Wilkinson fluffed his lines twice in the opening 20 seconds with a poor kick-off and losing a hanging kick to the oncoming Tommy Bowe, handing the initiative to Ireland.
It was an inauspicious start for the all-time leading scorer in test rugby as he attempted to put a few shaky performances behind him.
He did find his feet in the next couple of minutes but once again handed the initiative to Ireland when his ball was turned over in the lead up to Bowe’s opening try.
Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris made some ground before releasing Sexton who immediately vindicated Kidney’s decision to throw him into the lions den with a beautiful dummy before threading a pin-point kick for Bowe to chase and convert.
The score was against the run of play and after re-establishing control of both territory and possession England finally got on the board when Wilkinson, who had earlier hit the post with a penalty, made no mistake with his second attempt.
One penalty each from Sexton and Wilkinson saw the sides head into half-time at 8-6 in Ireland’s favour. Both out-halves were off target in the opening minutes of the second half before Ireland scored their second try after some great play by the Irish back line.
Having been penalised at the scrum, Tomas O’Leary was attacked for the ball by Danny Care and the referee then penalised the English scrum-half, reversing the penalty.
A crisp kick from Jonny Sexton right into the corner led to a five meter line-out for Ireland. After the ensuing drive was held up a brilliant pass from Sexton led to Earls diving over the line for his first Six Nations try.
On a day of few chances it looked as though it would be the crucial score but England hit back to level things on the hour when tight-head prop Cole burrowed over from close range.
Wilkinson made it 13-13 with the conversion before disaster struck for Ireland when Brian O’Driscoll was stretcher off.
After getting a touch to a chip and chase from Wilkinson, O’Driscoll’s head was caught on the ground by the knee of the oncoming Paul O’Connell. O’Driscoll attempted to continue but after standing up for a few seconds he then collapsed before the medical team helped him off the pitch with suspected concussion.
With O’Driscoll off the field the Irish team had to reshuffle the defence with Earls coming into the centre and Andrew Trimble coming on to the wing. Gordan D’Arcy was also only half fit at this stage as he had originally been coming off with injury before O’Driscoll went down.
With 10 minutes left this reshuffle left Ireland slightly exposed at the back and Wilkinson grabbed his chance to punish this. With all their possession it was only a matter of time before England made a real mark on the scoreboard and Wilkinson put them in the lead for the first time with a right-footed drop goal, 16-13 to England.
But Ireland did not win last years Grand Slam with a lack of heart. Following good ball from a line-out deep into English territory Bowe received the ball and cut a superb line past Wilkinson before rounding Ben Foden and crossing the line for his second try which was converted by Ronan O’Gara.
That conversion put Ireland four points ahead and meant England had to score a try to win the game. But Ireland were able to hold out before stealing the ball and putting it into touch to extend their record over England to six wins from the last seven matches, all coming since England won the World Cup in 2003.
Some great performances from the Irish team helped them to put the disappointment of Paris behind them. Jamie Heaslip, Stephen Ferris and Tommy Bowe will be extremely happy with their days work. As will Jonny Sexton who, despite missing some very difficult kicks at goal, kept Ireland ticking over in midfield and was able to control the game much easier than his more illustrious opposite number.
Man Of The Match: Tommy Bowe
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