Steve Borthwick’s team played with a fervour and ambition that Twickenham has not seen for a long time
England's Marcus Smith celebrates after landing the winning drop goal during the Six Nations match against Ireland at Twickenham. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesThere’s a reason why back-to-back Grand Slams are so rare, never mind Slams themselves, and this dramatic evening in Twickenham underlined why this is so.
As well as the breeze, there was also plenty of intent with England in that first half as well, which, importantly, led to an early reward which instilled them with belief. It was the first time Ireland had fallen behind in this Six Nations and although Ford missed the conversion, he extended England’s lead with a penalty, which was the least they deserved.
The ubiquitous Van der Flier also charged down an attempted drop goal by Ford before Ireland had an escape when another Lawrence ‘try’ was ruled out after video replays clearly showed that Furbank had nudged the ball forward when contesting Lawrence’s bouncing chip. Ireland needed a good defensive maul and good defensive work by Henshaw and Keenan to repel England again, and a booming 60-metre kick by Lowe was caught by Furbank but with his foot on the touchline. Aki was launched up the middle again, and a deft offload by Doris for Peter O’Mahony to make inroads led to a penalty for offside.Furthermore, they sprung into life after more good work by Van der Flier at the breakdown helped earn a relieving penalty.
England laid siege and although the first wave was repelled thanks to a good read by Gibson-Park, a snipe by Mitchell and big carry by Chessum led to a good, close-range finish by Earl which the newly introduced Smith converted to put England 20-17 in front.
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