Grand Slam Ireland put England to the sword at Twickenham

Ireland confirmed their standing as top dogs in the Six Nations to complete only their third ever grand slam and in the process hand reining champions England their 3rd defeat in a row. While Joe Schmidt will undoubtedly be delighted with the manner in which his Irish side went about their business, Eddie Jones and his 2019 plans for Japan

After an opening few minutes which saw the home side have the better of the preceding, Irish nerves were settled when Anthony Watson under huge pressure from Rob Kearney, failed to gather a high ball from Sexton on the English line.

Gary Ringrose was on hand to pounce on the fumble to ground the ball for the opening score with Sexton adding the extras.

Minutes later the Leinster out half had another chance to stretch the lead with a penalty in a pretty central position but his kick hit the post. England gathered and Farrell cleared.

The clearance however afforded Ireland a good attacking platform on the English ten metre line. With the lineout won, Ireland executed a superb midfield deception to put Bundee Aki through the middle. A slick offload to the onrushing CJ Stander saw the Munster man crash over from close range to ground the ball against the base of the post for Ireland’s second try.

Sexton added the extras to make it 14-0 to the visitors. England needed a response and it took eight energy sapping minutes of huffing and puffing which included a yellow card for Peter O’Mahony before they finally registered a try.

It came with Farrell availing of a penalty advantage to dink a clever kick behind a shorthanded Irish defence for Elliot Daly to dot down. Farrell minded the conversion and Ireland’s lead was cut to 9.

Game on yet again and with the clock ticking towards the 40 minutes, a succession of really poor England penalties allowed Ireland gain one last foothold in English territory.

What ensued was another concerted period of pressure that took the English defence over and back across the field. Sometime the gainline was not broken but never and the cost of losing the ball.

Conor Murray identified a gap on the short side and linked up with Jacob Stockdale who chipped ahead. When looking to ground the ball, it came off the Ulsterman’s knee to shoot forward into the dead ball area and despite the intentions of Brown and Daly, Stockdale was able complete the grounding for an excellent finish.

Joey Carberry who was on as a blood sub for Sexton, slotted the conversion to give Ireland a 21-5 lead at the break.

Ireland would have expected an English backlash and for the first seven minutes of the second half it was the men in white that were looking threatening. A series of line breaks and footholds inside the Irish twenty two were brought to a halt when a neck roll on Rob Kearney allowed Sexton to clear their lines.

Joe Schmidt’s side had weathered another English onslaught and had kept the lead at 16 points. A pattern then emerged of English attacks being stifled by some superb Irish tackling and work rate.

England’s discipline was again poor shipping penalties and both the breakdown and scrum with regularity. An infringement from James Haskell gave Conor Murray a chance to extend the lead to 19 points. The Munster man duly obliged to make it 24-5 heading into the last twenty minutes.

England needed a spark and as the clock ticked past 65 minutes the English backline finally created some space on the outside what was exploited by Farrell with Elliot Daly going over in the corner for his second try. Farrell was off target again with the kick and the gap remained at 14 points.

The home side would continue to attack and were rewarded with a consolation try for Jonny May as time elapsed. The conversion was missed and the final score read England 15-24 Ireland. Grand Slam Champions 2018 and fully deserving of the accolade.