That’s all from me on a big day for England. I’ll leave you with our match report. Thanks for joining me, and enjoy your evenings. Bye!
And here’s Eddie Jones! “We wanted Henry and Manu to try things, and they were both outstanding. Ireland are a good, well-drilled side, and we tried to play England rugby, with good attacking kicks. I thought Jonny May was outstanding, too.”
“France played really well against Wales, unlucky to lose. We’re going to have a short break, and rip in on Tuesday.”
Conor Murray gives his thoughts: “We started slow, and we gave up a couple of soft tries. Our start killed us, against a team of England’s quality, you can’t start that slow. The half-time chat was good, but we were a little bit flat in the second half. I can’t put my finger on why”
It was strange, and it’s a little odd to focus on the start when Ireland were ahead with half an hour played.
As for Ireland, that performance was neatly summed up by O’Driscoll as a “reality check”. England’s game plan was carried out ruthlessly, but it can’t have been a complete surprise.
They struggled to find a Plan B, and didn’t really take advantage of the occasional penalties England conceded. Their next fixture, a trip to Murrayfield, suddenly looks a little more daunting.
There were so many questions around England before this match. Was it smart to spend two weeks in Portugal? How would Slade fare in such a physical battle? Was Elliot Daly a wise choice at full-back? It’s extraordinary how everything came together for them.
Here’s Henry Slade, the man of the match for me, Clive.
“We put in a big shift in the training camp the last two weeks, and it paid off today. We knew exactly how we wanted to play, we executed it perfectly. I really enjoyed it today, it’s the first chance to play with Manu, and who knows, maybe we can carry on.”
Stick around for reaction and our match report from Dublin. First, a word from Dan Lucas’s dad, Gary.
“I just wanted to thank you and your readers for remembering Dan before kick off. We always enjoy Six Nations time.”
Particularly today, I would imagine. That was the kind of England display that would have had Dan out of his seat, cheering them on.
Full time! Ireland 20-32 England
What a result that is, and what a performance by England. The Six Nations is officially wide open!
Ireland chase a losing bonus point, but England defend as they have all game – with speed, intensity and fearlessness. Slade intercepts, one final kick in the midriff for Ireland, and it’s all over!
TRY! Ireland 20-32 England (Cooney 79')
The Ulster scrum-half, on for his Six Nations debut, races through after England finally switch off. Ireland add a quick conversion, but it all adds up to no more than a consolation.
More changes: John Cooney is on for Conor Murray, while the exemplary Mako Vunipola and Jamie George are finally stood down. Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ellis Genge come on.
Ireland 13-32 England (Farrell converts)
I’m not sure even Eddie Jones saw this coming. Ireland are getting shown up in their own backyard, Farrell stretching the lead to 19 points.
Try! Ireland 13-30 England (Slade's second)
Good grief! Ireland are slow and sluggish in the face of the England defence, and Sexton’s pass is intercepted by Slade! He gathers it in and strolls over the try line. England get a bonus point!
75 mins: Larmour grabs a high ball, and inevitably, is floored by an England tackle 0.5 seconds later...
73 mins: England fans break into ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’, but are quickly whistled down by the home support. Changes for both teams – Joey Carbery replaces Ringrose, and Chris Ashton comes on for the lively Jack Nowell.
72 mins: Ireland just can’t get any forward momentum. England have been relentless and show no sign of tiring, with Lawes making a big impact off the bench.
Ireland 13-25 England (Farrell penalty 70')
This effort is from close to the halfway line, but Farrell pulls rank on the long-distance specialist, Elliot Daly. A ballsy move from Farrell, and he backs it up with a brilliant kick!
68 mins: Rory Best is replaced by Seán Cronin, and Peter O’Mahony takes over as captain. Ireland have 12 minutes or so to find a way through, but again they’re forced onto the back foot, and England get the penalty in midfield!
Jonny May raced down the left flank after a lovely pass from Slade and then kicked beyond the Irish defence. Slade, who was just about onside, gets there first and grounds the ball to leave the Aviva Stadium in a state of shock! Farrell misses the conversion, but England lead by nine...
TRY! Ireland 13-22 England (Slade)
England break downfield, and Henry Slade may have just won this match!
65 mins: Sean O’Brien comes on, replacing CJ Stander. Much has been made of Ireland’s depth – now is the time to make it pay. England make a change, too – Harry Williams replaces Kyle Sinckler, who has been a spiky presence throughout.
64 mins: The move runs out of steam, and Ringrose knocks on, with Lawes risking a penalty as he comes in from the side.
63 mins: Larmour gets involved down the left, before Sexton gets the wind taken out of him by a Courtney Lawes tackle. Ireland keep pushing forward...
Ireland 13-17 England (Farrell missed pen)
Farrell never quite looks comfortable, and pulls his effort wide left. Changes for Ireland: Dave Kilcoyle and Andrew Porter replace Healy and Furlong. Roux came on for Devin Toner.
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60 mins: Penalty! A trangression from Ireland this time, Replacement Quinn Roux leaving his hands in the ruck, and Owen Farrell will try to stretch England’s lead back to seven...
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59 mins: This is such a brutal contest now, both sets of players colliding again and again, the thuds echoing around the stadium. Jack Nowell is the latest to throw himself into the green wall, which doesn’t move an inch.
57 mins: Ireland scrum, with Hughes and Lawes lining up in an unfamiliar lock partnership for England. The hosts retrain the ball, but Slade makes a key tackle to stop them progressing downfield.
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Worrying news for England – Maro Itoje has hobbled off with an ankle problem. He’s replaced by Nathan Hughes, while Jack Nowell is also walking a little gingerly. There’s also been a tactical change – Courtney Lawes is on for George Kruis.
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Ireland 13-17 England (Sexton penalty 55')
Jonny Sexton takes the three points on offer, and cuts the deficit to four.
“This is a superb game of rugby, and an aggressive England are great value for their lead so far,” writes Guy Hornsby. “But it’s still our familiar Achilles heel that could be our undoing: discipline. We’re giving away too many penalties. Sooner or later it’ll come home to roost, I fear.”
The penalty count is now England 7-1 Ireland.
53 mins: Ireland’s big beasts – Stander, Furlong, Ryan – all involved as the hosts try to batter their way to the line. Tuilagi leads the England resistance with a couple of big hits – but Sinckler goes in high on Ringrose, and it’s another Irish penalty.
51 mins: Ireland hare downfield and Slade so nearly gives the ball up, under pressure from Stockdale! Sexton collects it, but we’ll go back for an Ireland scrum. Could that be a turning point?
50 mins: England move within 10 metres, Tuilagi going toe-to-toe with Aki in an effort to find a gap. Ireland have numbers back, and Ringrose absolutely levels Farrell with a tackle that pops the ball out!
48 mins: More sterling work from Jonny May under the high ball, earning England a scrum. England have been dominant in 30 tackles, compared to Ireland’s seven. That’s quite the stat.
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46 mins: Ireland are feeling the heat, and O’Mahony loses his rag with Sinckler, grabbing him by the collar and labelling him a “stupid cee”, or similar. The referee has a word with them both, and we’ll restart with an Ireland lineout.
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45 mins: Ireland haven’t really made a crack in this white wall since Healy’s try. They’re inching forward here, and get an advantage - but Sexton kicks across field, and England get it back. A kick through is reeled in by Henshaw, again under intense pressure from the England backs.
44 mins: A little sloppy from England – they fail to collect a lineout in midfield, before Farrell’s kick for the corner flies into touch.
43 mins: Larmour for Earls is a tactical change, so I’m told.
42 mins: An exchange of kicks before Youngs scoops up Murray’s pass and England press forward. Ireland have a lineout near their own line, and win it, allowing Murray to heave it clear.
Here we go again!
A half-time change for Ireland: Keith Earls, who took a couple of hammerings in the first half, is replaced by Jordan Larmour.
The players are heading back out. “Forty minutes is a long time in Test rugby,” warns Brian O’Driscoll, who looks like he’s itching to throw on the old green jersey and get there.
England came flying out of the traps, Jonny May scoring a try inside two minutes. Ireland kept their heads to rally and take the lead, but Eddie Jones’ men came back stronger, scoring through Elliot Daly and so nearly getting a third through Mako Vunipola.
The visitors have mixed attacking elegance with defensive aggression, and are good value for their half-time lead. There’s a long way to go, though – can they keep the mistakes to a minimum in the face of an Irish fightback?
Half-time reading
Take your pick from these:
Half time: Ireland 10-17 England
No try, but a penalty for England from that previous advantage – and Farrell collects the three points. After a thrilling, ferocious first half, they lead by seven!
The TMO, Glenn Newman, has the hottest collar in Dublin just now. Garces is leaning towards NO TRY, but wants confirmation from the Kiwi, frantically scrolling through replays...
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TRY? Advantage for England, but they keep plugging for the line – and Mako Vunipola dives beneath CJ Stander to ground the ball! Garces is going to the TMO, to check for a double movement...
38 mins: Mako Vunipola breaks free of the scrum and offloads to Nowell, who is somehow held up on the line by a swarm of green shirts. England retain the ball, and can sense a third try...
38 mins: A pivotal moment perhaps? Rory Best can’t deliver a straight lineout 5m out, and England have a scrum with two minutes of the half to go.
36 mins: Murray can’t find touch and Billy Vunipola comes barrelling down the field. England sweep forward, Jamie George leading the next phase – but eventually, Jack Nowell is forced into touch on the right flank.
35 mins: Murray collects a kick, and is unceremoniously bundled into touch by May. England very much up for this, defending with controlled aggression. From the England lineout, a deft chip kick through has Henshaw in trouble, but he does well to collect under pressure from May.
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33 mins: Ireland travel the width of the pitch in search of a gap in the England defence. Eddie Jones’ side are holding firm as the contest gets physical. You can hear the thuds of the tackles, the forwards gasping for air.
32 mins: Slade has looked very tidy indeed on his first Six Nations start. There’s a nice balance in the middle, with Slade alongside Tualagi and Farrell ahead.
TRY! Ireland 10-14 England (Daly 30')
Stockdale is there to collect, but under ferocious pressure from Nowell, he spills the ball – and Daly, chasing down his own kick, touches down ahead of Furlong! Farrell converts, and England are back in front.
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29 mins: England claim the lineout, and Daly sends a diagonal kick through for Nowell to chase...
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28 mins: Henry Slade gets the ball down despite the efforts of Tadhg Furlong, and England stay in Irish territory. Farrell and Slade try to put pressure on Henshaw, and the latter effort works, forcing the full-back to find touch with his left boot.
26 mins: Plenty of aggression from both teams, and the decision to go for the try pays off for Ireland, who edge in front, the ship very much steadied.
TRY! Ireland 10-7 England (Healy 24')
England hold Ireland off, pinned back on their own line, and repel Conor Murray’s dive for the line. It can’t last, though, and Cian Healy eventually forces his way over. Sexton with the conversion, out wide to the right – and he nails it.
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23 mins: A bold move from Ireland, turning down the three points to go for the line against 15 men. They win the lineout, straighten up the maul and pile towards the line...
22 mins: Ireland have less than a minute to make their man advantage count. Stockdale gets the crowd on their feet with a dancing run down the right, and Sexton’s kick through catches England offside. Penalty, and the fly-half kicks for the corner as Curry comes back on the field.
20 mins: ...Ireland go again, Garry Ringrose leading the charge – and May lets a grubber kick through his grasp! Ireland get held up just short of the line, though – and England turn it over.
19 mins: England spent much of their time in Portugal practising their high-ball catching, and it’s paying off so far – they deal with another Murray box kick comfortably...
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18 mins: Earls gets another clattering, Itoje going in hard on the Ireland wing. Penalty for the hosts in their own half, with both captains mithering to the referee. Owen Farrell felt that Conor Murray was blocking Jonny May. Already plenty of needle in this one.
17 mins: After Stockdale runs out of room down the left, a loose pass from Bundee Aki is almost reeled in by Van der Flier, but England turn it over.
15 mins: Jack Nowell is drafted into the pack and England retain the ball, Youngs racing round the scrum and kicking downfield – but Henshaw, another unexpected full-back selection, claims comfortably.
14 mins: So after that rush of blood from Curry, England will be very happy to hold their lead as he stews in the sin bin. The visitors get an advantage and hold onto the ball, not wanting to give it straight back to the hosts. They’ll take a scrum instead.
13 mins: The boos ring around the Aviva Stadium as Tom Curry goes in hard on Keith Earls. Jerome Garces tells him his timing was all wrong, and he’s off to the sin bin. It’s a bad one, high and late from the Sale man.
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12 mins: Terrific kick from Murray, swivelling to deliver a high ball that swerves in the air and has Daly worried. He opts to leave it, and wisely so.
Watching Wales’ glorious comeback last night (or, ‘lucky exploitation of France’s implosion’, depending on which side of Offa’s Dyke you live on...), it still felt wrong not sending a Manics reference (and a joke about Dirty Dylan Hartley) to Dan Lucas,” writes Matt Dony.
“The Six Nations is a fantastic tournament, but his writing was often the icing on the coverage cake. Incidentally, I think England might squeak it today, winning by one score. I can see them being incredibly fired up and focused, with some massive points to prove.”
Ireland 3-7 England (Sexton pen 10')
...which he does, with minimal fuss. Ireland cut the gap.
9 mins: Penalty advantage for Ireland, Sinckler not moving away. Sexton sends a high ball down May’s throat, but the wing deals with it comfortably. Sexton will now kick for the three points...
8 mins: O’Mahony collects the lineout – that’s a set piece where Ireland were ridiculously dominant last year. Murray tries a diagonal chip and charge but May collects and tries to hoof it in behind – it lands just out of play though, and Ireland will stay in England territory.
6 mins: Ireland aren’t panicking, keeping their heads at the breakdown and getting a penalty to relieve a bit of pressure. Murray finds touch, and the hosts have a lineout.
5 mins: Daly charges into midfield to collect a Sexton kick. No sign of nerves from the relocated full-back, there.
4 mins: That’s England’s first try in Dublin since 2011. How will Ireland respond to that blistering start?
TRY! Ireland 0-7 England (May 2')
Farrell takes a risk, swinging the ball into the gap left by Earls, and it’s collected by Daly, who offloads to May – who slides in at the corner! Farrell converts. What a start for England!
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1 min: Tuilagi makes an early impact as England start on the offensive, Jack Nowell also testing the wall of green - and now Farrell switches it to the left flank...
Here we go!
Owen Farrell kicks off to a mighty roar. Ireland collect, and Connor Murray clears it away.
Anthem time! ‘God Save the Queen’ doesn’t receive the boos it got in the North-South football friendly back in November. That’s followed by the Republic’s national anthem – but it’s “Ireland’s Call” that stirs the crowd, and leaves a couple of home players with something in their eye.
“19-18 – to one side or the other,” says Dean Hawkes, splinters embedded in his posterior.
Some pre-game stats from Simon Gleave and Gracenote:
Ireland have not lost a Six Nations match in Dublin since Joe Schmidt took charge of the team in the summer of 2013. Wales are the only team to come away from Dublin with anything in the Six Nations since then, drawing 16-16 on the opening weekend of the 2016 Championship.
Ireland have the most settled team of the six countries playing this weekend with 12 of the starting XV against England last year also starting today. Seventeen of today’s 23 were part of the 23 in last year’s Grand Slam winning match.
Before 2014, Ireland have won two Six Nations titles in 30 years. They’ve won three of the last five, including a grand slam last year, and are ranked No 2 in the world.
On the club scene, three Irish provinces are in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals – a tournament Irish teams have won seven times.
How did they get here? Donald McRae can tell you, with his terrific long read:
Anyone care to make a prediction? Get in touch...
Here’s a song from Dan’s favourite band – and something to settle the nerves with kick-off approaching:
@niallmcveigh Hi Niall. Hyped for today's clash. Hoping our home record holds. May I mention how much I, and many more I'm sure, miss the late Dan Lucas on a day like today? Here's to you, Dan. I'm sure you're running a match tracker from above.
— John Rogers (@JohnRogersShow) February 2, 2019
I couldn’t agree more, John. These Six Nations Saturdays were where Dan absolutely came into his own. He’s still much missed at Guardian Towers, and by many of you out there, I’m sure.
Scotland have opened with a win, and it was a very impressive one with an hour gone. Then Italy, having barely left their half, managed to score three tries. Still, a win is a win, right?
Pre-game reading
While I report on the last knockings of Scotland v Italy, feast your eyes on our previews:
The teams
Ireland: 15 Robbie Henshaw, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 1 Cian Healy, 2 Rory Best (c), 3 Tadhg Furlong; 4 Devin Toner, 5 James Ryan, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 CJ Stander.
Replacements: 16 Seán Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Seán O’Brien, 21 John Cooney, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour.
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler; 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis; 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Dan Robson, 22 George Ford, 23 Chris Ashton.
Preamble
Good afternoon. To paraphrase one of the great Anglo-Irish sporting men, you’ve obviously heard there’s a rugby match on.
This Six Nations has been billed as a battle for northern hemisphere supremacy with the World Cup looming, but the most significant stramash of all may be here, on the opening weekend.
Ireland usurped England as the north’s true powerhouse with last year’s grand slam, won without mercy at a shell-shocked Twickenham. Victory over the All Blacks in November has put them on top of the world, but Eddie Jones will be desperate to bring Joe Schmidt back down to earth today.
The hosts are favourites, but England have the weapons to exploit any gaps in the Irish armour, with Manu Tuilagi returning to a beefed-up back field primed for a physical battle. You can count on Ireland to be relentless, forensically focused and ready to pounce on any lapse in English concentration.
Throw in a couple of surprise full-back selections, a raucous home crowd and a dash of political intrigue, and we have ourselves a potential classic. It’s the Red Rose v the Green Machine, all kicking off at 4.45pm.
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