Robert Kitson's match report
Andy Farrell, victorious coach, is here
“We’ve done this four time, but this is the first time we’ve done this at home and it means so much for the Irish here and around the world. It was squeaky bum time for a while at 10-9, and the pressure France had put on us in recent weeks. It was stop start match, a proper test match, but in the end we have a bonus point victory. This is unbelievably fitting for Johnny (Sexton), he wanted to lift the trophy with someone else, but I told him he mustn’t, and he and we have bigger fish to fry with the World Cup coming up.”
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Owen Farrell is reflecting on the game
“Congratulations to Ireland, winning a GS is special. I thought we showed a tremendous amount of fight, we gave away too many penalties and the game changed with the card, but we stuck in it and caused them some problems. It’s not for me to have an opinion on the card, but it did seem harsh to me, but the rules are there.
We’ve got to go back to our clubs now to be better players, and we’ve laid some foundations this Six Nations, but we have to build on that.”
The medals are being hung around the necks of the Irish players, each having their named called and followed by a cheer from the crowd, all of whom have stuck around.
James Ryan takes the Triple Crown plate, and last up is Sexton to carry the big trophy to his players assembled on the plinth of victory.
The cheers and arms go up, along with the golden tickertape, as this enormous achievement sinks in and he lap of honour begins.
James Ryan is talking
“One of the best nights of our careers today. We spoke of the opportunity to win a Grand Slam in Dublin in front of home fans. We didn’t quite get it right in the first half, but we stuck in there and found the way, but that’s good for us as you have to test yourselves. These are the days, it’s really special, Johnny’s last home Six Nations game and what a servant he’s been”
@bloodandmud DEFCON 1 Pints Pints Pints & more Pints in every Irish pub around the world! Go on Ireland love it
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) March 18, 2023
There will be a lot of talk about beating 14 men and whether that was fair to England, but it’s hard to see how this result would’ve gone any other way even with a full compliment.
England did a good job to curtail Ireland in the first half, but from the second quarter onwards the home side were building dominance in the way that is typical of what has taken this Irish team to the top of the world.
Beginning with the tour victory in New Zealand last summer, via some hard fought wins in the Autumn to this crowning achievement, this has been the greatest period in Irish rugby history.
Knowing Andy Farrell, he’ll see this as nothing like job done yet.
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FULL TIME!
IRELAND WIN THE GRAND SLAM!
80+2 mins. Isiekwe claims the ball in the middle of the lineout, and the carries start hammering the Ireland line, but the home side are not keen to end with conceding a try and tackle accordingly.
80 mins. Songs ring out in the crowd as England continue to work the ball in the Ireland half, winning a penalty that Farrell kicks to touch in the corner.
79 mins. England go from a lineout on halfway, putting it through hands as the time ebbs away.
78 mins. 90 seconds to glory for Ireland.
TRY! Ireland 29 - 16 England (Rob Herring)
77 mins. Herring peels off the maul to dive over in the corner to score against thirteen men.
Ross Byrne misses a difficult conversion from out wide.
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YELLOW CARD! Jack Willis
75 mins. The TMO draws Ref Peyper’s attention to Jack Willis lifting Ross Byrne beyond the horizontal. He really lifts him quite high, but lands him on his back, not particularly hard, so it’s a yellow.
74 mins. Jamison Gibson-Park and Johnny Sexton leave the field for Conor Murray and Ross Byrne.
Sexton limps off to standing ovation in what many assume is his last Six Nations match at the home of Irish rugby.
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TRY! Ireland 24 - 16 England (Jamie George)
72 mins. The Fields Of Athenry is ringing around the stadium as the home fans finally start to relax and truly believe. But England aren’t lying down for it as they catch and drive a maul over the line for George to dab it down.
Farrell converts.
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That’s Dan Sheehan’s final act of a very good game for him, replaced by Rob Herring.
Alex Mitchell has replaced Van Poortvliet for England.
TRY! Ireland 24 - 9 England (Dan Sheehan)
69 mins. Ireland work the short-side via Mack Hansen who feeds Dan Sheehan who is lurking on the right touchline. He’s stopped, but on the next phase he’s up to take an offload from Conan to run over in the corner.
Sexton booms the conversion over.
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Beyond penalties for breakdown pressure, England haven’t looked like scoring all game, this feels a long way back now for the visitors.
Genge and Sincker are off, replaced by Mako Vunipola and Dan Cole.
Jack Willis returns from his blood bin, and that’s a cue for Dombrand to leave the field to officially be replaced by Ben Curry.
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TRY! Ireland 17 - 9 England (Robbie Henshaw)
62 mins. Playing on an advantage from the scrum, Ireland go to Aki who sucks in two defenders and feeds a short pass right to Henshaw to dive over.
Sexton bends the conversion over.
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60 mins. Sexton sprays a kick in behind Watson, who is hounded over his own line by Hansen and tackled to give Ireland a huge five metre scrum platform, assuming they can manage to hold it up!
Joe Marchant comes on for Henry Arundell, who’s had a difficult game.
Tom O’Toole replaces Tadhg Furlong for Ireland.
57 mins. Ireland snaffle the ball from England’s lineout maul to save Sexton’s blushes, with Gibson-Park breaking up the field. The ball ends up in touch and the teams set to with some pushing and shoving, which adds even more to the tension and drama.
When it all settles down it’s an England scrum and they win another penalty as Porter collapses.
Jack Conan is on for Peter O’Mahony
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55 mins. The ball is spending a lot of time in the air, as both sides look to kick and it’s England who are winning the battle so far. The latest deep kick from Farrell has Johnny Sexton shanking one into touch for not many metres, as even the most experience mad on the park starts to tighten up with the weight of expectation.
PENALTY! Ireland 10 - 9 England (Owen Farrell)
50 mins. England put the Irish front row under pressure and it goes down to give England a penalty amidst a chorus of orgamo-squeals from the English pack.
Farrell hammers it through the posts to cause more twitching among the Irish players and fans
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48 mins. Owen Farrell decides Ireland can have some of their own medicine and that it’s time to test how good O’Brien is under the high ball. The answer from this example is “not great” as the replacement Ireland fullback bounces the ball off himself to give England a scrum in the Irish half.
45 mins. Unsurprisingly, Ireland appear to now have a clear tactic to kick to where Steward would have been to see how well England cover their backfield now. The latest boot from Sexton is comfortably marked by Watson, however.
43 mins. Ireland start brightly and on kick return Gibson-Park escapes a tackle on the left touchline, bears down on Watson and chips it over to chase, but can only watch the ball roll into touch in the England 22.
Second Half!
Sexton kicks the restart deep.
Hugo Keenan is off after the head contact and Jimmy O’Brien is on. That’s a big loss for Ireland.
Away from the red card, Ireland were looking stronger in the last quarter, so it was already going to be a challenge for England in the second forty. It will be doubly difficult now.
“I feel for him.” says Sam Herbert on the Steward red, “He saw that the Ireland player had knocked it on, didn’t want to make a tackle with the player not having the ball as he would give a penalty away so tries to avoid it. Obviously there’s no way he can so he gets sent off. No common sense anymore from refs.”
I think if he’d kep his chest open, shown he wasn’t trying a tackle and soaked he contact then the ref would’ve called it as a rugby incident.
Ultimately he chose to move his shoulder towards a player moving towards him, which for me is not consistent with pulling out of contact; Steward basically made it a more dangerous contact.
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PEEEEP! HALF TIME!
40+4 mins. Sexton want to turn the screw with the clock in the red and England a man down. The have multiple carries for the line from the lineout, but the white defence throws everything at them and eventually force a knock-on to end the half.
RED CARD! Freddie Steward
4o+2 mins. He’s off! Steward said “I had no time to correct”, but his technique was wrong from the start really, and that’s the risk you take these days.
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40 mins. It’s starting to look better for Ireland in attack and slowly more ominous for England. The backs run a lovely pattern on the blind side, all angles and late passes that has Hansen off his wing and one offload away from putting Keenan away, but the winger lobs it forward.
As Keenan tried to grab it, Steward jumped into him shoulder first, hit him in the head and he’ll be given a red here.
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37 mins. England switch the attack left from a scrum to Arundell, but Hansen and Aki grip him, hold him up and win a choke-tackle scrum. That change of attack was very well contained by the Irish defence.
That feels like a big moment as Ireland have been slowly growing into this match, and moving ahead for the first time just before halfway feels important.
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TRY! Ireland 10 - 6 England (Dan Sheehan)
33 mins. From the lineout, Van Der Flier runs off the back of the maul and pops it inside to Sheehan on the arc from the same maul for the hooker to turn on his rapid pace to drive to the line and through some tackles to score.
Sexton adds two.
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31 mins. A scrappy lineout from England puts Van Poortvliet in all sorts of trouble close to the touchline around halfway, but the young none does well to hold his nerve long enough for his support to arrive. But Ireland soon have it and the vistors are offside in defence and Sexton puts his side into the England 22 for a lineout of their own.
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28 mins. More possession for Ireland inches them forward in the England half, but again the visitors are flying up in the tackle line to ruin the usually impeccable timing of Mike Catt’s green attack. The latest burst of pressure in midfield forces Doris to knock on.
25 mins. Hansen decides enough is enough and slaloms past the England kick chase and his runs it from his own 22. Ireland then work the ball around halfway, but the white defence has regrouped meaning a kick is the right option. But it’s been spotted that Sexton was walloped off the ball by Dombrandt – penalty Ireland.
23 mins. It’s England’s turn to have some efficient phases, that Ireland repel with some aggression until the visitors are penalised for holding on. Proper big lad pants stuff this game, so far.
20 mins. The home side look neat and tidy in attack, but not exactly threatening, mainly due to England getting up in their grill and ruining their momentum. The ball goes to ground and is hacked behind Keenan, who pulls a kick horribly into touch in his own 22.
Keenan is usually furiously solid and classy; if his basics arecracking then that is terrible portent for Ireland.
PENALTY! Ireland 3 - 6 England (Johnny Sexton)
18 mins. Ireland’s next possession has Sinckler infringing at the breakdown, so Sexton tees it up and slots it to get his side on the board and also surpass Ronan O’Gara to become the highest points scorer in Six Nations history.
Some career.
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17 mins. England make a mess of a short Sexton restart and this allows Ireland to run a pattern to free Keenan on an angle in midfield, but a pincer movement from Steward and Van Poortvliet stops him in backfield. The Irish attack tries to capitalise on the territory, but the early occasional imprecision from the home team creeps in once more and the attack brakes down.
PENALTY! Ireland 0 - 6 England (Owen Farrell)
14 mins. Andrew Porter hits Sinckler early in the lineout, giving a penalty to England and Farrell wastes no time in doubling his side’s lead with the boot.
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11 mins. Ireland are direct from the lineout, with Van Der Flier almost all the way through to the line after he finds a gap. He is stopped by Steward and a few phases later the ball spills, but George is penalised for crawling on the floor with the ball he gathered.
Sexton quick taps and goes for the line, but he’s held up by Dombrandt and England can clear the ball with a drop-out.
9 mins. A period of kicking from the backfield comes to an end as Arundell has a run with it and is clamped on by Porter. The England winger doesn’t release it and Sexton sets up a lineout on the England 22.
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PENALTY! Ireland 0 - 3 England (Owen Farrell)
7 mins. Double figures of phases from England works them up into the Irish 22, and already the visitors are unrecognisable from the side that was tonked last week. They put some pressure on the Irish defence with their recycling, and the home defence is offside.
Farrell calls for the tee and puts his team in front. A solid, settling few minutes from England.
4 mins. Ireland have most of the ball early on, working their usual organised phases until Willis nabs the ball at the breakdown. Nothing comes of the turnover possession, though, as a Itoje is subsequently too eager at the breakdown and is pinged for offside.
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2 mins. Solid kick-off exit from Ireland leads to a few kicks back and forth before Gibson-Park is taken out in the air and Sexton booms the ball into touch in England territory.
Kick Off!
Owen Farrell kicks the main event into life.
“Ireland’s Call” is absolutely deafening from the crowd, and we’re minutes away from kick-off…
@bloodandmud Grand Slam on the line, Sexton’s last 6N’s game St Patrick’s weekend Holy Mother of Sweet Lanterin Jaysus & The Old Enemy in Dublin. What’s not to like? Manu Genge Itoje & Farrell they’ll give us a few nervy moments but we should have enough to get the Slam.
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) March 18, 2023
Grand Slam number four for Ireland, their first since 2009, awaits them in the next couple of hours.
Standing in their way is an England team that absolutely nobody fancies, but Owen Farrell and his side won’t care about that, this is a one-off test match to put down a marker for the rest of the year.
The teams have made their way onto the field in a lovely Dublin evening. A bit breezy, perhaps, but other than that it looks perfect out there.
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Pre match random reading
Joe Biden is all over Ireland’s Grand Slam hopes, read more about it here
Can anything prevent an Ireland Grand Slam? Give me your thoughts on that and much beside on the email or tweet @bloodandmud
Teams
Andy Farrell has made three changes driven by a mix of injury or preference. Robbie Henshaw returns to the centre, replacing the injured Garry Ringrose; while Jamison Gibson-Park and Ryan Baird are in at scrum half and lock respectively.
Return of the Manu is on for England, as well as exciting winger Henry Arundell getting a start and Owen Farrell back in the 10 shirt to conduct matters. In the forwards, Dave Ribbans is given a starting berth alongside Itoje in the second row.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Johnny Sexton (captain), Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Ryan Baird, James Ryan, Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Cian Healy, Tom O’Toole, Kieran Treadwell, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Ross Byrne, Jimmy O’Brien.
England: Freddie Steward; Anthony Watson, Henry Slade, Manu Tuilagi, Henry Arundell; Owen Farrell (captain), Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, David Ribbans, Lewis Ludlam, Jack Willis, Alex Dombrandt.
Replacements: Jack Walker, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, Nick Isiekwe, Ben Curry, Alex Mitchell, Marcus Smith, Joe Marchant
Preamble
When asked about Ireland winning a Grand Slam, St Patrick apparently replied, “I love owt like that, me”.
On this his feast weekend, he won’t be the only one experiencing that overwhelming emotion if his patron nation bring home the biggest of cups to put the top hat on an incredible twelve months.
All form, results and evidence point to this being the case in a few hours, but England and Steve Borthwick will not fancy being the lambs to be slaughtered for the celebration stew. But, can the visitors do anything to avoid what many are predicting to be a procession for Andy Farrell’s impressive team?
Borthwick and co would do well to look back to 2019, when a largely unfancied team rocked up to the Aviva Stadium and blew the doors off from the start to claim a stunning victory. Key that day were strong performances from Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade, who are reunited in midfield this afternoon. Tuilagi is not the player he was, both in terms of size or form, but like many England coaches before him Borthwick has returned to the big centre on the promise that a game breaking performance like 2019 is still in there somewhere.
It’s a bit of a stretch, unlike Ireland securing the Grand Slam, which feels like a short and easy step.
