No grand slam this time, just the eerie thud of lofty Irish reputations crashing back down to earth. One bad result does not suddenly make Ireland a bad side but this was not a day to convince many neutrals the world’s second-best team were wearing green. Maybe that was the problem: given the choice between being the hunters or the hunted, Irish rugby players instinctively prefer the underdogs’ basket.
Being garlanded as near-invincible champions before a ball has even been kicked is rather less comfortable terrain. And goodness this was an untypical Ireland performance: nervy, inaccurate, flat in places, panicky in others. Not even their customary saviour, the sainted Johnny Sexton, was immune. Had he bailed them out, as he so often does, there would have been little justice.
Ireland have grown so accustomed to winning over the past two seasons that this collective malfunction felt faintly surreal. The only other time England have scored more than one try in Dublin in the Six Nations was in their annus mirabilis of 2003; here they had four on the board by the end. More remarkable still is that virtually all of them came courtesy of Ireland’s defensive lapses, previously as rare in these parts as giant pandas in Co Wicklow.
It is far from the first time Ireland have started the tournament slowly but normally they find some kind of escape hatch. Not on this occasion. The methodical efficiency that has so often been their watchword under Joe Schmidt was barely evident, the gears to the slick green machine grinding throughout. Was Sexton 100% fit? Either way, the home side’s guiding light did not have his most influential afternoon.
Huge credit, clearly, should go to England, who did not concede a point when reduced to 14 men by Tom Curry being sent to the sin-bin for a late tackle on Keith Earls. It was hardly the first late Curry this convivial annual tournament has ever known but, from Ireland’s perspective, it should have been just what the doctor ordered. Surely they would regroup, assert their usual dominance and normal service would be resumed?
Cian Healy’s fifth try in 85 Tests for his country did briefly settle churning Irish stomachs but any sense of relief was fleeting. Jacob Stockdale has scored more than his fair share of wonder tries but the young Ulster winger found himself on the receiving end, having the ball jolted from his grasp by Jack Nowell’s tackle in the Irish in-goal area and watching in horror as Elliot Daly pounced for the try.
The theory had been that Ireland would respond to the axing of their experienced full-back Rob Kearney like men possessed, on the basis they could be next. Instead, it was as if one of their main marquee poles was missing. Robbie Henshaw did his best but England, in virtually all areas, were superior.
From the perspective of this year’s Six Nations it is a serious blow to Ireland’s title prospects but local pride will be stinging even more. It is six years since Ireland lost at home in the championship and, before this game, they had lost once in almost two years.
Next Saturday’s visit to Murrayfield to face Scotland now has a very different feel to it. Ireland will surely be better than this but the shamrock aura has been unceremoniously pierced. In some ways Schmidt might be privately relieved. Now his side can revert to their default setting: not getting above their station, battling the perceived odds.
“There’s one thing about the English psyche which I’ve always found interesting,” wrote the perceptive ex-Ireland international Donncha O’Callaghan on the morning of the game. “Once you tell them how good they are they grow. They thrive on the mindset that they are better than what they are up against.”
That kind of thing comes less naturally to many Irish sportsmen, as this muted performance seemed to underline.
