How Ireland Rated: James Lowe continues to be finisher supreme
HOW THEY RATED: James Lowe got over for both of Ireland tries. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
: Back in the box seats after recovering from a knee injury, Keenan could have done without the enforced re-shuffle that saw him switch to the wing. Almost clear to the try-line in the second-half only to be called back for a knock-on.
A desperately early casualty, sent reeling as England piled forward in the move that led to the opening try, the Ireland wing taking a bang to the head and unable to return to the action.
: Such has been Henshaw’s form and partnership with Aki, that the once undroppable Garry Ringrose has had to kick his heels now that he is fit, and Henshaw made sure his value was brought to bear when trying to stem the English wave of attacks.
A mixed bag. There is always so much to admire in Aki’s forthright performance on the go-forward, the centre clattering forward, winning turnovers but there were errors too.
A finisher supreme as he showed when touching down twice. It took a while, though, for Lowe to find his range with his booming left boot, not quite hitting the mark in his exit play although one 54 metre belter had England full-back, George Furbank, spilling into touch.
: There was not that much to see of Crowley in attack as England lifted their game to unprecedented levels in this championship but the fly-half did what had to be done in keeping the scoreboard on the move and creating what he could.
A real trouper, adjusting well to circumstances, and a key man in Ireland’s second try. Ireland’s injuries threatened to knock Gibson-Park out of his stride but his opportunistic instincts came into play as he fed James Lowe for his second try.
A day for rearguard actions as the England pack lifted their game. There was a fair degree of unhappiness at the angles of scrummaging applied by England but Porter simply had to dig deep and he got on the with job manfully.
Sheehan is invariably conspicuous although this time it was in getting in the ref’s ear about the England scrummaging, a key intervention as Ireland battled to find the stability they craved.
A rugged day at the coal-face. This was an afternoon for sweat and toil and Furlong shirked nothing in trying to get his side a foothold at the set-piece as well as round the field.
A knuckling-down performance. This was one of those games when you expected to see a lot of the feisty McCarthy but the anticipated explosive head-to-heads did not materialise.
A day in the trenches. So much has been seen of the Munster lock in the wide open spaces but this was a day for grappling and digging deep which Beirne managed to do to his usual high standards.
Unable to impose himself either as a player or captain. The Munster man was under pressure and he finally succumbed to that stress when diving over the ruck illegally and was yellow-carded.
To the fore, involved and productive. Even when Ireland were on their heels, the red headguard was still visible, burrowing, scavenging and wining turnovers.
It took a while for Doris to feature with his trademark bursts into the heart of the opposition defence but the Leinster man could not be kept quiet forever, winning ball at the front of the lineout and making his presence felt.
: The fault line in the modern fad of stacking the bench with six forwards is that injuries in the backs will hurt a side. Ireland had to make do and mend when the replacement, Ciaran Frawley, also had to come off early in the second half. Conor Murray stepped in to scrum-half with Jamison Gibson-Park shunted out. It was less than ideal. The sound of chickens coming home to roost could be heard echoing round Twickenham. The replacements worked hard but they were always up against it given the impact of the re-shuffling. Ulster’s only representative, Iain Henderson, battled valiantly as did Ronan Kelleher and Ryan Baird but it was to no avail in the pursuit of the Holy Grail of back-to-back Grand Slams.
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