• Ireland 20-32 England
• England score four tries to claim bonus-point win in Dublin
Ireland’s six-year ground record in the Six Nations was seized by a ruthless England side that was as clear in its thinking as it was muddled a year ago. They not only won there for only the third time in the Six Nations but did so with a bonus point after taking control of the game form the start and relentlessly grinding down the champions whose paucity of ideas when chasing a game was exposed.
Ireland’s success under Joe Schmidt has been based on starting strongly and feeding a lead. The last time they lost a match after leading at the interval was in South Africa in the summer of 2016 and a question over their World Cup credentials is whether a programmed side is equipped to play catch-up. England were in a hurry to find out and scored a try after 94 seconds. Conor Murray’s box-kick went into touch rather than towards Elliot Daly at full-back and the visitors used the lineout near Ireland’s 10-metre line to quickly launch Manu Tuilagi at the gainline. The centre duly stormed it and England moved the ball from phase to phase at pace, eventually working space on the left where Owen Farrell’s long pass tempted Keith Earls into going for an interception.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2Bhy2t7
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