England vs Ireland: As it happend
- 1424
Ireland's hopes of a grand slam where taken away by an outstanding English performance with Marcus Smith securing victory with a late drop goal to give England a first victory over Ireland in 5 Six Nations matches.
As it happend:
4’ Ollie Lawrence strikes first at Twickenham
Tommy Freeman was met in a ferocious hit by Calvin Nash in the build up to the try however England were still able to get quick ball. George Ford played simple hands to Slade who fed Lawrence and the centre handed off Jack Crowley beating him on the outside to score in the corner.
England 5-3 Ireland
25' Lawrence over again but try ruled out for a knock-on
Ollie Lawrence stabbed a grubber kick though, it bounced awkwardly and George Furbank contested with Ciaran Frawley, flicking the ball out of his hands, where Lawrence scooped and ran in for the score. After a TMO review was conducted it was ruled a knock by Furbank in the contest with Frawley.
England 8-6 Ireland
40” Ireland take the lead at half time
Jack Crowley slots a simple conversion to make it 100% a success rate for the fly half as Ireland head into the sheds at half time in the lead after slotting his fourth penalty.
England 8-12 Ireland
44' James Lowe scores acrobatically in the corner
Gibson-Park’s box kick is spilled by George Freeman and reclaimed by Ireland. They spot the overlap on the left, a lovely flat pass from Crowley- to Dories gets them outside with the backs playing through the hands to put Lowe in space who finishes in spectacular fashion
England 8-17 Ireland
47’ George Furbank strikes back for England with gas to burn on the outside
Itoje gathers the offload from Martin, draws a defender and passes to Furbank who maximises space on the outside to score a second try for England putting them right back in the contest
England 13-14 Ireland
58' Pete O'Mahony yellow card, Earl puts England back in front
England steal the Irish lineout near halfway and Ben Earl weaves between tacklers to get them up to the 22. O'Mahony attempts to steal the ball and gets sin binned for a cynical foul stopping the English momentum. Earl finsihes off what he started scoring two minutes later.
England 20-17 Ireland
72' James Lowe bags his second try of the night
Ireland display silky skills to spread the ball wide to the wing and put James Loweron a one-on-one with Marcus Smith. The Leinster winger is too fast and powerful beating Smith on the outside to score in the corner.
England 20-22 Ireland
82' Marcus Smith gets the winner in over time
England were not far off from winning the match with a try as their forwards carried in the 22m with an advantage. Marcus Smith drops back into the pocket and secures a famous victory for England at Twickenham
Final Score: England 23-22