Ireland resurrect title hopes
Ireland 43 England 13
Ireland resurrected their RBS 6 Nations title hopes with a crushing record victory over clueless England today.
It was the first time an English team has played at Croke Park, the home of Gaelic sport, and they will not want to return in a hurry after suffering their biggest defeat to Ireland.
Girvan Dempsey, David Wallace, Shane Horgan and Isaac Boss crossed for the home side while Ronan O’Gara did the rest, finishing with a 21-point haul in an immaculate display of kicking.
England breached the whitewash through debutant David Strettle while Jonny Wilkinson kicked eight points but it was virtually all one-way traffic in a memorable night for Irish sport.
The first half was tale of woe for sorry England who, save for an early penalty from Wilkinson and run by Andy Farrell, made no headway.
They were forced to fight a desperate rearguard action and, when Danny Grewcock was sin-binned for impeding Peter Stringer in the 29th minute, Ireland pounced.
Dempsey was the first to cross, the grateful benefactor of instinctive work from Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll, and then Wallace burrowed his way over from close range.
Apart from an early kick from O’Gara, the opening of the second half belonged to England, who were rewarded when debutant David Strettle rode tackles from Dempsey and Gordon D’Arcy to cross.
Wilkinson’s boot reduced the deficit further but O’Gara added his fifth penalty and then set up Ireland’s third try for Shane Horgan, who collected a crossfield kick and touched down.
Boss then delivered the final blow, running in an intercept try amid crowd chants of “easy, easy”, and his fellow substitute Paddy Wallace converted.
Ireland’s triumph – the first at their temporary home while Lansdowne Road is redeveloped – was a welcome tonic after the heartbreaking 20-17 defeat by France.
It also nudged their title bid back on track with matches against Scotland and Italy to come.
