In the early exchanges, England showed they were here to play – an approach spearheaded by the man who clinched this fixture in 2024 with his late drop goal, fly-half Marcus Smith. Clever, probing kicks from England kept Ireland on their toes.
Cadan Murley made the dream start to his Test career when the Harlequins wing picked up centre Henry Slade’s kick-through to outsprint Ireland openside Josh van der Flier and score. Murley’s clubmate Smith converted for a 0-7 lead.
An Irish try was disallowed after referrals with the TMO adjudged that second row Tadhg Beirne was off his feet at the ruck in the build-up to hooker Ronan Kelleher going over. England’s lead remained, although for how long was the question once the influential Smith was shown yellow for offside (his second sin-binning for England after receiving his marching orders against Japan in Tokyo last summer).
The normally ruthless Irish didn’t capitalise immediately on the numerical advantage, frustrated by England’s confident defence. They put some jaw-dropping phases of attack together, only to be stymied by forced errors in heavy white traffic.
There is only so long you can hold out an Ireland team at home, and it was the game-changing wing James Lowe who was the catalyst, taking on scrum-half Alex Mitchell and winning the encounter convincingly. Lowe quickly found scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park in support, who stepped the last man, fullback Freddie Steward, to score a marvellous try.
Fly-half Sam Prendergast, making his first Championship start, surprisingly hit the upright with his conversion attempt, meaning England retained a two-point advantage. Then, as the clock wound down on a lively first half, England number eight Ben Earl broke the line with aplomb. Ireland did well to stop the Saracens back rower, but coughed up a kickable penalty in the act, which Smith took to give his team a five-point lead at the half-time break.
Statistician Russ Petty posted in the build-up to this match that the last time a team leading at half time in this fixture in Dublin lost was all the way back in 1983. That made the second half at the Aviva Stadium all the more enthralling.
Oftentimes might is right in rugby, and that was certainly the case when Irish centre Bundee Aki rode through three attempted English tackles to score in the left corner in a display of pure strength and power. Unable to convert, Ireland had now made it 10-10 with just under 30 minutes remaining.
That scoreline soon became 13-10 to the men in green. England were deemed to have made contact in the air at Ireland’s lineout, and Prendergast at last notched up his first points of the match.
Ireland dealt a serious blow to England’s hopes in the 63rd minute with a beautifully intelligent combination from Gibson-Park and Lowe, the scrum-half holding up the ball a second long enough for the winger to sprint through a gap in the England defence. Workhorse Beirne, always one to sniff a try, was the correct option on Lowe’s left to touch down. Jack Crowley, on for Prendergast, converted: 20-10.
By this point, England had enjoyed a sum total of zero possession in Ireland’s 22 in the second half. Momentum is a hard thing to force, and it proved difficult for Steve Borthwick’s team to come by, having enjoyed so much of it early in the match.
The result was put to bed when the scourge of the English, Lowe, surged upfield and passed to replacement hooker Dan Sheehan for Ireland’s bonus-point try with fewer than ten minutes left on the clock. Crowley converted to make it an astonishing 22 second-half points for Ireland.
If there was a morsel of consolation to come for England, it was a try for blindside Tom Curry, set up by powerhouse centre Ollie Lawrence, who saw off the attentions of two defenders to offload to Murley. Curry was the beneficiary, crossing for England’s second try. Smith sent a straightforward conversion wide: 27-15.
The second crumb of comfort came with the clock in the red, as wing Tommy Freeman escaped some weak tackling to score under the sticks. Smith converted: 27-22.
After a slow start, Ireland had fully grown into the contest, and they will now have realistic aspirations of going for the Grand Slam that last year eluded them thanks to today’s opponents.
