That battering they took in the first half, which I found incredibly frustrating, seems to have taken it out of the Irish. Though not totally, very close there. And who would bet against England giving away four kickable penalties?
All over, some hairy moments, Ireland did well second half, and defended heroically first half. One thing I notice was a bit of work with the boot in the breakdown by England. England need that last 5-10% of accuracy, and as always discipline.
Hard fought win for England, not pretty but got the job done. Sets us up nicely for the title decider against Wales...
Neither the TMO nor the referee can give a try if they haven't seen it grounded. If the ref thought it was a try he would have asked if there was any reason why he couldn't award a try. Instead he asked 'try or no try'. It was "probably" grounded, but it wasn't conclusively shown. England's ill discipline was again very frustrating and I'm not convinced about Ford. However, overall there was much to admire and Ireland were fighting for their lives almost the entire first half. England also had to play 20 minutes of the second half a man short. Well done England. Onwards! Oh and Vunipola was absolutely immense!
Yep, I know the rules. Or at least that one, I'll never understand the scrum, or what you are and aren't allowed to do at the breakdown. I reckon it would have been awarded in the pre TMO era, but there you go. Similarly not convinced by Ford, and Farrell at centre neither, though the young lad who replaced him looked promising. Billy was immense though and Brown hyper aggressive. We always look better with Care at 9, though I suppose this tends to be towards the end of the game, and the fool got himself carded today. Plenty to build on, first reducing the mistakes.
Pretty decent match today. Well done to England on their victory. Deserved. Really was a game of two halves. England dominated first half with power plays by their explosive men through the middle sucking in the Irish players before releasing the speedsters out wide. Poor discipline still remains a problem but for the first time in several years you could clearly see a game structure and England played with a much higher tempo. I was very proud of the Irish display today. A depleted team realistically did all they could but our replacements were just not good enough. Great to see our future centre paring on display today, two 22 year old monsters who formed our biggest ever centre pairing. I think it's fair to say we edged the second half and had four great try chances that we failed to convert. Better team on the day won.
That was one hell of a test and a tough game. I wonder if Brown will get cited for his incident with Connor Murray? I've also heard that Eddie Jones has given himself a self imposed media ban ahead of the clash against Wales in a fortnight.
Was that when he was very determinedly using his boot in a breakdown on the England line, and Murray ended up with a cut on the head? It was when Care got carded for not rolling away. When I watched it live I thought Brown was pushing it, though there was no malicious intent, he was just really going for it.
Commentary from afar ............ Behind every good English Rugby, Cricket & Rugby League team ................ is an Aussie! Of course, when Jones shoots himself in the foot, I'll insert a retraction. Until then, enjoy!
