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England kept their Six Nations hopes alive with a dominant 24-12 victory over Ireland at Twickenham.
Eddie Jones’s side began aggressively and were rewarded almost immediately when George Ford opened the scoring after just eight minutes, capitalising on a sloppy mistake by Irish captain Johnny Sexton.
Sexton then horribly miscued a penalty from in front of the posts before England surged into a 14-0 lead, with Jacob Stockdale this time at fault for failing to clear Ford’s kick as Elliot Daly stole in to score.
Ireland responded in the second half as Robbie Henshaw powered his way over the line to reduce the deficit to 12 points. However, England extinguished their hopes soon after as Luke Cowan-Dickie converted from the back of a maul.
Andrew Porter scored a consolation try for Ireland in the game’s dying moments, but it was too little too late on a disappointing day for Andy Farrell’s side. Click through the gallery below to see our player ratings from Twickenham:
Ratings: England vs IrelandShow all 31 1 /31Ratings: England vs Ireland Ratings: England vs Ireland England vs Ireland England secured a 24-12 victory over Ireland to retain their hopes of Six Nations glory, but who were the standout players? Click through the gallery to find out.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland England: Elliot Daly – 8 One of his best displays under the high ball and looked assured at the back, not to mention threatening going forwards as he took an early catch of Ford’s up-and-under. Refusal to give up on Ford’s chip bagged him the second try, and gave the side confidence whenever he got on the ball.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Jonny May – 6 Another who impressed aerially but hasn’t had the chances to score that we usually expect, which seems to stem from his move to the right wing. Should have had a penalty when Henshaw took him out chasing his own kick.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Manu Tuilagi – 7 The simple things like running and tackling make such an impact when it’s Tuilagi doing them, as he constantly went over the gain line and left a bone-crunching tackle on Stander.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Owen Farrell – 8 Tactical kicking was excellent throughout and he boasted a 100 per cent record from the tee. Risked getting dragged into a brawl with Stander that was entirely his own doing with a touch of breakdown skulduggery, but his leadership really stood out as one of the decisive influences.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Jonathan Joseph – 7 Justified selection on the wing as he was defensively astute in taking high ball and even showed a nice turn of pace to beat opposite man Conway in a foot race.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland George Ford – 8 Switched on to pre-empt Sexton’s mistake and pounce on the ball for the opening try and served up the second with a delicate chip for Daly to chase. Tactical kicking was excellent throughout.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Ben Youngs – 7 Lovely kick through caused panic for the Irish and produced the first try and also linked well with another chip for Joseph to chase and regather. His running threat does seem to have diminished though, and replaced rather early for Willi Heinz.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Joe Marler – 8 Make a rock solid start in the scrum by winning the first penalty and did a good job of managing Furlong, though guilty of conceding a penalty shortly after the restart. On the whole he was one of the standout forwards.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Jamie George – 7 Best performance of the Six Nations so far as the lineout functioned well bar one attacking five-metre throw, which was poached by O’Mahony. Showed his useful turn of pace out wide when Farrell released him in the first half. Another early departure.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Kyle Sinckler – 7 Had the chance to show his gifted handling abilities with a couple of offloads in the tackle, and defended astutely with a monster stop on Kilcoyne after he came on.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Maro Itoje – 8 England’s pack leader by performance once again delivered a masterclass that riled Ryan and Stander to the point it put them off their game. Defensively brilliant, with his blitz on Aki leading to a turnover standing out as a particular highlight.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland George Kruis – 7 Another good performance from the lock who is making the place his own at the moment, and given the wealth of locks at England’s disposal, that takes some doing.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Courtney Lawes – 7 Brilliant defensive effort but managed to offer much more with the ball in hand, which helped him to the man of the match award. Decision to start him at blindside flanker paid off with England at their most physically imposing.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Sam Underhill – 7 Two surging tackles stood out as he rushed up on the Irish possession, though England’s dominance with ball in hand diminished his standout qualities somewhat.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Tom Curry – 7 Guilty of missing the tackle on Henshaw for Ireland’s first try, but overall he coped well and moved back to blindside upon the introduction of Ewels.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Ireland: Jordan Larmour – 5 Made the mistake of not calling a mark in the build-up to the first try and picked up an injury early in the second half that looked to hinder him, before departing soon after for Keith Earls.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Andrew Conway – 6 Strong aerially as he gave Joseph and Daly something to think about but given little possession to work with, and found himself outgassed by Joseph in a foot race.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Robbie Henshaw – 7 A strong showing all things considered as he made the most incisive run of Ireland’s afternoon to score their first try. Has enjoyed his return to the international arena after injury.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Bundee Aki – 7 Made two powerful runs that got Ireland rare go-forward ball and secured a turnover on Lawes when the lock was isolated, though he also experienced similar when Itoje caught him deep in back-field.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Jacob Stockdale – 5 Anonymous with ball in hand and guilty of once again dallying on his try line to concede points. Failed to learn the lessons from Dublin 2019.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Johnny Sexton – 4 Made a very poor start to the match and it appeared to knock his confidence considerably. Dropped Youngs’ kick on the line that gifted a try to Ford, then spurned three very kickable points from the tee. Failed to get himself on top of the game and Ireland suffered as a result.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Conor Murray – 5 His kicking was impressive from hand to start with, but his long-range touch-finders didn’t give makeshift wing Joseph anything to think about as the ball kept sailing over him and into touch.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Cian Healy – 5 Departed in the first half with a nasty-looking injury that left him in considerable pain, which he picked up deep in the breakdown. Replacement Dave Kilcoyne found himself on the end of a number of powerful tackles as he struggled with the physicality.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Rob Herring – 6 Felt the pressure at the lineout but that was largely to do with the number of jumping options England had, and all things considered he coped as well as he could hope.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Tadhg Furlong – 5 Struggled up against Marler as the more experienced prop won out in the scrum battle, and he provided very little go forward with the ball as Ireland struggled for possession.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Devin Toner – 5 Wasn’t able to leave his mark on the contest either in the loose or, more importantly, in the lineout.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland James Ryan – 6 Tried his upmost to get Ireland’s defence firing and engaged in a fascinating head-to-head with Itoje that boiled over on more than one occasion, but came off as an obvious second best. Still, he was Ireland’s best forward.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Peter O’Mahony – 5 Stole one English lineout when the pressure was on but otherwise did little of note, and guilty of throwing a horror pass to Stockdale that resulted in a knock-on.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland Josh van der Flier – 5 Fairly anonymous at the breakdown as he struggled to live with the pace that England played at. Replaced by Caelan Doris on the hour.
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Ratings: England vs Ireland CJ Stander – 6 The sight of him topless and jumping onto Itoje as the two brawled was one of the more surprising incidents witnessed. Did well to get up from Tuilagi’s enormous tackle, and tried his best to take on the burden of Ireland’s carrying with little result.
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