England defeated by Ireland in Dublin

19 Aug 2023 | 5 min |

England defeated by Ireland in Dublin

Ireland denied Steve Borthwick's men with a 29-10 victory at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

An early George Ford penalty gave England the early advantage, but two first-half tries from Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose gave Ireland a 12-3 lead at the break. Kyle Sinckler crashed over for his try in the second half, but further Irish tries from James Lowe, Mack Hansen and Keith Earls confirmed the defeat.

Ford wasted no time getting England on the board early in the contest after Ireland were caught infringing at a ruck directly in front of their own posts, but a swift response from the Irish opened the door for Aki to score the first try of the game soon after. A line break from Peter O'Mahony meant a simple offload was all that was needed for the inside centre to run in for the five points.

The ensuing exchanges saw both sides looking to test each other's defensive lines with looping runs and probing aerial attacks. It was in the closing minutes of the first half when Mack Hansen found space for Ringrose to touch down for the home side's second try.

Hansen kicked cross field to his outside centre on the wing, who stepped off his right foot to beat Freddie Steward and dive for the line. Byrne's missed conversion meant England headed to the changing room just nine points behind at the break.

The Match Centre highlighted Ellis Genge as a standout performer in the first forty; The loose head prop beat four defenders with his three carries for a total of 20 metres. In defence, David Ribbans topped the half time tackle charts with seven interventions and one turnover.

Borthwick's men went down to 14 men shortly after the 50-minute mark after Billy Vunipola was shown a yellow card - which was later upgraded to a red card - for his challenge on Ireland's Andrew Porter. The resulting set piece attack exposed the gap in England's defence and Byrne was able to find Lowe out wide for the score on the left flank.

Hansen got in on the scoring with a try of his own ten minutes later as Ireland continued to exploit the stretched England line. A looping Byrne pass over the head of Steward found the Connacht wing with an unobstructed route to the whitewash.

Despite the unfavourable scoreline, fresh bodies in Danny Care, Theo Dan, Marcus Smith and Ollie Lawrence looked to inject some impetus. But it was Sinckler who provided impact in the form of a try. Care's quick-tap penalty parked his side firmly inside the Irish red zone and the power of the tight head replacement converted the opportunity into five points.

Celebrations, however, were short-lived as Ireland responded almost immediately. Earls, on the occasion of his 100th Test cap, crossed acrobatically in the left corner to seal the deal for Andy Farrell's men with a fifth and final try in the closing minutes.

England will play their final Summer Series fixture at home next Saturday when they host Fiji at Twickenham (15:15).

TEAMS

England

15. Freddie Steward, 14. Anthony Watson, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Elliot Daly, 10. George Ford, 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. David Ribbans, 6. Courtney Lawes (C), 7. Ben Earl, 8. Billy Vunipola

Replacements

16. Theo Dan, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Ollie Chessum, 20. Jack Willis, 21. Danny Care, 22. Marcus Smith, 23. Ollie Lawrence

Ireland

15. Hugo Keenan, 14. Mack Hansen, 13. Garry Ringrose, 12. Bundee Aki, 11. James Lowe, 10. Ross Byrne, 9. Jamison Gibson-Park, 1. Andrew Porter, 2. Dan Sheehan, 3. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Tadhg Beirne, 5. James Ryan (C), 6. Peter O'Mahony, 7. Josh van der Flier, 8. Cian Prendergast

Replacements

16. Rob Herring, 17. Jeremy Loughman, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. Joe McCarthy, 20. Caelan Doris, 21. Conor Murray, 22. Jack Crowley, 23. Keith Earls