ANALYSIS: How England Got The Better Of Ireland In Round Three Of The Six Nations

England put themselves firmly in the hunt for the Six Nations title and ended Ireland's Grand Slam dream with a 24-12 victory at Twickenham on Sunday last week.  Coach Eddie Jones had thrown a curveball with his team selection, in particular the decision to deploy Jonathan Joseph on the wing, but few were left questioning his wisdom at full-time.

England, whose only Six Nations loss at Twickenham in the last 19 matches came against Ireland in 2018, started with remarkable intensity and soon got their reward. Sexton, who later badly fluffed his lines from a penalty, fumbled from Ben Youngs' grubber kick and Ford was on hand to gather the loose ball and touch down.

Daly was similarly alert to get on the end of Ford's searching kick as Jacob Stockdale was caught off guard. Owen Farrell added six first-half points with the boot to leave Ireland with a mountain to climb as, in 21 matches between the nations in this competition, no side had ever overcome a half-time deficit to win, and that would not change. 

Ahead of the fixture, Omar Mouneimne previewed the two sides with a keen eye on how Andy Farrell has tweaked Ireland's structures and how Eddie Jones' charges could counter Farrell's tactics. Omar suggested that England should use their kicking game to put Ireland under pressure, particularly with their massive race chase from kick-offs and box kicks. 

"A typical tactic of England is an up-and-under with a race chase and a massive line pressure. If Ireland dropped the ball in their half, well, then England have got a big scrum and could convert that into pressure and points." - Omar said in his preview of the game. 

The Worcester defence coach went as far as to suggest similar kicks that led to Ellis Genge's try in the clash against Scotland: "I think this chip over the top from the scrum is a good tactic for England because of Ireland's massive defence and great choke tackling and you see England, obviously, with Hogg's error scoring the try from the resulting scrum."

In his review of the crunch clash at Twickenham between the two sides, Omar takes a look at how England used these tactics to get the better of Ireland with a dominant first half, ultimately sealing the victory for Eddie Jones' charges.

Every tournament that England play in, they've got the highest territory stats and a very good kicking game because of their kick execution.

In the video below you will see exactly how England did this putting pressure on Ireland in their own half, causing Jonathan Sexton and Jacob Stockdale to make costly errors.

Omar also has a look at England's suffocating defence and how their attack is shaping up. 

So, essentially, England's suffocating defence and kicking game is really key to their style of play and, if they find their rhythm on attack, they will be extremely hard to beat.