Fortune favours the brave as Ireland ride their luck
“Mark Cueto scored a perfectly good try and Lewis Moody could have got the benefit of the doubt,” blazed Robinson after his side fell to a fourth successive championship defeat, their third loss in a row this season.
England have been well and truly dethroned as World Champions, victims of another Irish scalping. It was close, but Ireland’s magnificent defence finally won the day in a victory for Mike Ford over Phil Larder.
Robinson didn’t finish at that, going on to speak of the win that might have been; in Robinsonspeak it might have been “a famous victory.”
With talk like that England have clearly lost the plot. They are no longer the team of the decade, no longer the arrogant lot who always believed they had a divine right to win. One thought it was only Ireland, a small nation with a miniscule player base by comparison, who spoke of famous victories over the “auld enemy.”
Robinson’s moans centred around a first half “try” by his right-winger after a Charlie Hodgson cross-kick. Referee Jonathon Kaplan ruled that Cueto was in front of the kicker but called play back to give England a scrum for an Irish knock-on. He was correct in the ruling.
Kaplan was also correct to deny Moody a late try because the flanker failed to ground the ball. Stand up and take praise, Anthony Foley.
Yet Ireland also enjoyed a measure of good fortune. England had most of the ball, and territory, and Ireland can thank captain Brian O’Driscoll, with a lot of help from Denis Hickie and Geordan Murphy, for seeing them home.
O’Driscoll’s 58th minute try and Ronan O’Gara’s subsequent conversion were the defining moments of a tense struggle on the day England played their last game at the old Lansdowne Road.
Ireland were warm favourites and they came out of the blocks quickly when O’Gara dropped a goal after three minutes.
The out-half had a huge influence on that opening half, during which Ireland played capably against a stiff breeze. England had hoped to use the elements after winning the toss, but they struggled to make the desired impact, despite a seventh minute try from Martin Corry, converted by Hodgson for a 7-3 lead.
Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan listened to Robinson’s claims for two English tries and countered: “What about the obstruction on Ronan O’Gara for England’s try?”
A fair point, but O’Sullivan was in no mood for confrontation with his counterpart.
“The game is over, we got a couple of bounces of the ball but I felt we deserved to win overall. Our defence stood up to everything and that was crucial in a tight game. We’re taking this one step at a time. We will look forward to a few days’ break and then get back together to prepare for the game with France.”
Ireland’s will to win was rarely more evident and they regrouped after Corry’s soft try to regain the initiative with two penalties from the out-half. Even though Hodgson restored England’s advantage, O’Gara was back on song with a second drop goal, this time off an upright, to give Ireland a 12-10 lead at the break.
Hodgson struck for England 15 minutes into the second half, but then came O’Driscoll’s try.
The captain admitted: “We had worked on a similar move in training where Denis (Hickie) came into the line after a dummy run by Shaggy (Shane Horgan). It worked a treat, Denis made a lot of ground and we got a fast re-cycle. Geordan (Murphy) made the most of his break and he sent me in on a clear run.”
O’Driscoll admitted that some of his colleagues thought he was about to run over the dead ball line but that was never the case. “I just wanted to make it a little bit easier for Rog (Ronan O’Gara) to convert.”
While England piled on the pressure in the closing moments, and they did enjoy more than their share of territory in that pulsating second half, Ireland could well have put the game beyond reach through two good scoring chances. O’Gara knocked a long-range but wind-assisted penalty to the left and then skewed a further drop goal attempt wide.
“That drop goal was a real chance,” said O’Sullivan, “But I would blame the pack for not taking it on one more phase and allowing Ronan the opportunity to kick with his right rather than his left. It was a chance and the fact we missed meant we had to scrap it out for the win in the last few minutes. Ultimately though, I’m not complaining. A win is a win and it keeps us on course for what we want to achieve this season.”
: Murphy, Dempsey, O’Driscoll, Horgan, Hickie, O’Gara, Stringer, Corrigan, Byrne, Hayes, O’Kelly, O’Connell, S. Easterby, O’Connor, Foley.
: Horan for Corrigan (68).
: Robinson, Cueto, Noon, Barkley, Lewsey, Hodgson, Ellis, Rowntree, Thompson, Stevens, Grewcock, Kay, Worsley, Moody, Corry.
: Dawson for Ellis (70).
: J Kaplan (South Africa).
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