Ireland shred England Grand Slam hopes in first half

Ireland 17 England 3

England needed a superhuman response to rescue their Grand Slam dream after being hammered by Ireland in the first half of their RBS 6 Nations clash at Aviva Stadium.

Tommy Bowe ran in a 28th minute try while Jonathan Sexton landed four penalties with three points from Toby Flood England’s only score.

The combination of England’s incompetence and some brilliant play from Ireland even began to cast doubt on the Six Nations title aspirations of Martin Johnson’s side.

Ireland registered an early morale victory when they sent England hurtling back at a scrum from inside their own 22 and referee Bryce Lawrence had no option but to award a penalty.

Two superb kicks from Keith Earls and Sexton kept England pinned deep inside their own half with strong running from Tommy Bowe also making an impact.

Sexton, who had endured a torrid time when appearing as a second-half substitute in Cardiff last Saturday, settled his nerves with a simple early penalty after the visitors has strayed offside.

England’s uncertain start continued when Toby Flood failed to make 10 yards with the restart, enabling Ireland to renew their assault.

Flanker Sean O’Brien has carried magnificently all championship and his fine form continued this afternoon with two bullocking runs into the heart of the white defence.

The visitors were under pressure and a high tackle on Sexton by Chris Ashton enabled the Leinster fly-half to extend the lead with a tricky penalty.

England hinted at building some momentum through James Haskell only to turn the ball over.

Controversy reigned in the 22nd minute when O’Driscoll finished what appeared to be a superb try only for Lawrence to rule the scoring pass forward.

It was a bitter blow to Ireland, who had smashed their way forward through Jamie Heaslip and Bowe, coming just seven days after conceding a try against Wales that clearly should not have stood.

Some consolation was provided by a Sexton penalty after their opponents had strayed offside in the same move.

Worse was to come for England, however, after Flood missed the easiest of penalties and shortly after Ireland crossed – and this time there was no intervention from Bryce.

Reeling from the ferocity of the Irish onslaught, England’s defence was in pieces and the quick-witted Sexton needed no second invitation.

He took a quick tap penalty instead of going for goal, finding Bowe who showed strength to crash over the line.

Sexton missed the conversion and on the half hour mark England had finally troubled the scoreboard when Flood landed a long-range penalty.

Johnson’s side were imploding with a dreadful passage of play putting them under further pressure.

The lack of chasers on a series of kicks handed the advantage to their opponents and only a try-saving tackle by Flood on David Wallace, who had ripped the ball off Shontayne Hape, prevented further damage.

Moments after Wallace had been shoved into touch, Ben Youngs threw the ball into the crowd and was shown a yellow card.

Reduced to 14 men, England were then made to pay an even higher price for Youngs’ petulance when Sexton rifled over the penalty.