Jack Conan sets up try and scores another as Ireland too good for England at Aviva

Jack Conan outjumped Tom Curry to knock down Rob Herring’s line-out throw, allowing Earls to burst forward and sidestep Jonny May before crossing wide on the right

Sat, 20 Mar, 2021 - 18:33

Simon Lewis

Ireland 32 England 18

Ireland produced their best performance of Andy Farrell’s tenure as head coach on Saturday as they broke a four-game losing streak to England to close their 2021 Guinness Six Nations campaign on a superb high at Aviva Stadium.

Ireland finished the game with 13 men following the second-half sending off of Bundee Aki and a late yellow card for Conor Murray but it did not take away from an excellent display of intense physicality, a dominant set-piece and attacking verve to consign the 2020 champions to a third defeat of the campaign.

England's Jonny May and Maro Itoje compete for possession in the air. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

It made for a wonderful send-off to CJ Stander’s Test career in his 51st and final Ireland game having announced his decision to retire at the end of the season. Yet it also lifts a world of pressure from the shoulders of Farrell and his coaches following a tournament that began with back-to-back defeats to Wales and France, losses that brought down a torrent of criticism of Ireland’s predictable attack.

Nothing could have been further from the truth on Saturday as first-half tries from Keith Earls, a brilliant finish off a well-worked lineout move, and Jack Conan, completing an excellent team build-up involving forwards and backs, did the early damage, buttressed by the goal-kicking of captain Johnny Sexton to send Ireland into a 20-6 first-half lead.

A view of a maul during the Aviva Stadium clash. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

That did not end the drama. Earls had a second try ruled out on 50 minutes after doing really well to dot down a Sexton crossfield kick after an Iain Henderson linebreak, though the captain did claim three points with the boot when play went back to an Ireland penalty. Sexton notched another penalty on 61 minutes before England sniffed a way back in, Aki’s red card for a stand-up tackle on Billy Vunipola producing the penalty that led to a lineout maul from which Ben Youngs stole in on the blindside with a try for the visitors.

That narrowed the score to 26-11 but Sexton was handed another opportunity from a scrum penalty which the fly-half converted to restore a two-score advantage, and another to make it 32-11 with seven minutes remaining.

Ireland's Jack Conan scores their second try. Picture: Niall Carson

England claimed a second try through May at the death but it will have been scant consolation on a day when Ireland ruled the roost in every facet.

IRELAND: H Keenan; K Earls, R Henshaw (R Byrne, 78), B Aki, J Stockdale (J Larmour, 77); J Sexton, C Murray; D Kilcoyne (C Healy, 19 - HIA), R Herring (R Kelleher, 70), T Furlong (A Porter, 63); I Henderson (R Baird, 63), T Beirne; CJ Stander, J van der Flier (P O’Mahony, 63), J Conan.

Replacement not used: J Gibson-Park.

Red card: Aki 63

Yellow card: Murray 77

ENGLAND: E Daly; A Watson, O Lawrence, O Farrell (D Robson, 55 - HIA), J May; G Ford (J Marchant, 50), B Youngs; M Vunipola (E Genge, h-t), L Cowan-Dickie (J George, h-t), K Sinckler (W Stuart, 63); M Itoje, C Ewels (J Hill, 55); M Wilson (B Earl, 50), T Curry, B Vunipola (G Martin, 62 - HIA).

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)