Gilroy rues silly mistakes

Winger Craig Gilroy admitted Irish mistakes and indiscipline paved the way for England’s 6-12 victory over the men in green in yesterday’s RBS Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium.

Gilroy rues silly mistakes

Winger Craig Gilroy admitted Irish mistakes and indiscipline paved the way for England’s 6-12 victory over the men in green in yesterday’s RBS Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium.

That lack of discipline allowed goal-kicking maestro Owen Farrell to exhibit his dead ball exploits as the 21-year-old slotted four of his six shots at goal which proved enough to earn England the win.

Persistent rain made for trying conditions and it was no surprise to see both teams making handling errors.

Frustratingly for the Irish coaching staff Ireland made fewer errors and conceded fewer penalties than Stuart Lancaster’s men but they failed to get into any attacking rhythm and never really threatened the English line.

Yesterday’s outing gave Gilroy his first taste of defeat in an international Test after enjoying victories over Argentina and Wales in his previous two caps and he admitted it was a bitterly disappointing result.

“It was a different feeling to what I had last time I was here and even last week with the win in Cardiff, it’s not a nice place to be,” the young Ulsterman remarked.

“Obviously we want to win every game in this competition, but today’s was definitely a game in which we wanted to put a marker down and come away with a win.

“I think there was just a few silly mistakes whether it was handling errors or silly penalties and I thought England capitalised well and kicked their points.”

Ireland appeared to be in the driving seat when England were reduced to fourteen men as James Haskell went to the sin bin and Ronan O’Gara levelled the scores at 6-6 with over twenty minutes to play.

The home side couldn’t capitalise on the numerical advantage however and by the time Haskell re-emerged Farrell had tacked on six points and Ireland failed to produce a late response.

Gilroy insists the Irish players never dropped their heads, believing the game was there to be won right up to the final whistle.

“We definitely had the desire to win and the hunger was there I just think there was a lot of injuries early on and silly mistakes.

“It just didn’t really go our way and fair play to England, they capitalised on it. There were times where we felt we had the momentum and then it quickly changed back and it was very back and forth like that.

“It was a one-score game really and we believed we could have won right until the end, unfortunately we didn’t.”

The performance and result is made all the more disappointing when held up against the Round 1 triumph over Wales but Gilroy knows the focus must now shift to Scotland.

“Obviously last week was a huge win for us in Wales and it really got the momentum going in the competition.

“Today was a game we wanted to win and we’re very disappointed by it but no doubt will come together and be ready for Scotland in a few weeks.”

more courts articles

Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother
Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van
Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman

More in this section

Joe McCarthy 25/3/2024 Cullen names raft of international returnees in side to face Bulls
Jake White during the warm-up 23/3/2024 Jake White: 'I'll keep coaching as long as I love it'
Louis Rees-Zammit file photo Louis Rees-Zammit reportedly signs for Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs
Sport Push Notifications

By clicking on 'Sign Up' you will be the first to know about our latest and best sporting content on this browser.

Sign Up
Sport
Newsletter

Latest news from the world of sport, along with the best in opinion from our outstanding team of sports writers

Sign up
Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

© Examiner Echo Group Limited