What a perfect day

Ireland        24
England    8

Brendan O’Brien
Aviva Stadium

IT took five games and six long and sometimes difficult weeks but Ireland finally produced something like the performance they always claimed was in their Six Nations locker when beating England.
In doing so, they deprived Martin Johnson’s men of their first Grand Slam since the England manager claimed one as captain after THAT incident involving President Mary McAleese and a red carpet at the old Lansdowne Road in 2003.
It also capped a month in which the national cricket team brought down the Three Lions in the World Cup and one where a record 13 Irish-trained horses claimed honours at the Cheltenham Festival.
Forget all the historic baggage, however. This was about much more than bragging rights and historical issues. This was about stopping a rot that, with another defeat, would have festered through to August and the World Cup warm-ups.
“We felt we had a big performance in us,” said Brian O‘Driscoll. “We have been threatening that in our first four games but we lacked the composure we showed today and we brought great intensity to the game.
“We did it at times to date in the championship but this is a more complete performance. The pack really fronted up and created a fantastic platform for us. Games are won and lost in the pack and that certainly won it for us today.”
As Declan Kidney added, it was impressive without ever coming close to the complete display but the statistics - those damned statistics which have been flung in their faces - show just why Ireland won.
For a start, they committed just six penalties - six - and completed 95% of their tackles. Another excellent defensive performance was sullied only by a sloppy Eoin Reddan pass which allowed Steve Thompson claim five points.
By then, the game was already over with Ireland holding a 24-3 lead thanks to a superb attacking display in which Jonathan Sexton kicked as much as he ran before making way for a sublime late kicking cameo from Ronan O‘Gara.
That debate will keep on running.
Ireland played with tempo, with intent and intelligence. The frenetic pace produced errors on both sides but England couldn’t cope. Their discipline deserted them in the opening exchanges and allowed Sexton to kick three penalties.
And then the cracks became chasms.
Tommy Bowe and O’Driscoll claimed Ireland’s tries after the 28th and 47th minutes but it could have been more with another O’Driscoll touch down called back for a forward pass and David Wallace twice coming close before the interval.
England were, quite simply, a mess. “Muck,“ as Johnson said later.
The sense of panic seeped into every sinew. Toby Flood missed a sitter from a penalty and Ben Youngs left them with 14 men when shown a yellow card for throwing the ball away and denying a quick throw-in.
Unforgiveable stuff.
Thompson’s try from nothing after 54 minutes was followed by a late downpour which both served to burst the hosts’ momentum and kill the game but it couldn’t detract from what Ireland had done for the opening 50 or so minutes.
IRELAND: K Earls; T Bowe, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, A Trimble; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, R Best, M Ross; D O’Callaghan, P O’Connell; S O’Brien, J Heaslip, D Wallace. Replacements: T Court for Ross (58); R O’Gara for Sexton (70); D Leamy for Wallace (72); P Stringer for Reddan (79); L Cullen for O’Connell (79); P Wallace for D’Arcy (79); for S Cronin for Healy (79).
ENGLAND: B Foden; C Ashton, M Banahan, S Hape, M Cueto; T Flood, B Youngs; A Corbisiero, D Hartley, D Cole; L Deacon, T Palmer; T Wood, N Easter, J Haskell. Replacements: S Shawe for Palmer (27); D Care for Youngs (46); J Wilkinson for Flood (51); P Doran-Jones for Cole (51); S Thompson for Hartley (51); T Croft for Deacon (55); D Strettle for Cueto (66).

Referee: B Lawrence (New Zealand).

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/BNFBgXY8ftY/post.aspx

United States Alexander McCall Smith Kazakhmys Office for National Statistics Lancashire Internet