England were beaten 21-42 by a fired-up Ireland at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday, as the visitors reinforced their standing in the Six Nations conversation.
Here are our winners and losers from the game.
Winners
Stuart McCloskey
In an era defined by the midfield prowess of Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, Ireland are desperately in need of new blood in the centres for the future. At the age of 33, McCloskey is not that but what he is is a very talented and very physical option for right now. With Ringrose to partner on a grey Twickenham afternoon, he proved that he can mix with the very best of them. He added real physicality to the 12 shirt, giving Ireland vital go-forward ball and was a constant threat in defence. Just ask Marcus Smith, whom he chased down like a cheetah rounding on a gazelle in the dying minutes. He made an Irish high of 15 carries, completed 14 tackles and beat a remarkable five players. A tremendous display.
Robert Baloucoune
The 28-year-old has been away from the international arena for quite some time, but having last weekend regained the trust of head coach Andy Farrell, he truly justified Saturday’s selection with some terrific breaks, including an assist for Tommy O’Brien’s try as well as getting on the scoresheet himself. With just six carries, he beat three men and made three line breaks, as well as making 11 tackles. Exactly what his boss would have hoped for.
Jamison Gibson-Park
The nippy scrum-half directed the Irish attack with precision throughout. He expertly assessed the ragged English defence early on to score Ireland’s opening try, but was unfortunate to have his second score chalked off before the ink was even dry just minutes later after a penalty was called in the build-up. There’s no denying that Ireland have struggled in recent times compared to their typically astronomical standards, but Saturday’s performance showed just how important Gibson-Park is to a fully-firing Irish squad.
Ben Earl
England’s performance was littered with mistakes, but Earl’s wasn’t. As often occurs with the greatest players, they step up when their team isn’t on song. That’s exactly what the back-rower did. He was the game’s top carrier with 20, banging on the door as he looked to create a hole for his teammates to charge through. His efforts were in vain, however, as he struggled to make any more than 1.55 metres per carry. Although the result wasn’t there, no one can knock his efforts.
Incredible Ireland shock Twickenham in Six Nations stunner as England embarrassed
Losers
Injured players/referee
James Lowe appeared to clutch his leg as he shanked an uncomfortable clearance kick early on. Sure enough, his afternoon was over, and Farrell suggested post-game that the injury is “not good”. On the other side, Alex Mitchell suffered a leg injury of his own just minutes later, limping off to be replaced by Jack van Poortvliet. As if this pandemic of leg injuries couldn’t get any worse, the referee was next up. Andrea Piardi was forced off, much to his clear frustration, as the reins were handed over to his colleague Pierre Brousset,
England’s cohesion
As a whole, they looked broken. It was a display of 23 players who appeared not to know each other. They were disjointed, didn’t do the basics, and their first-half tackle success was only 67 per cent. The second half saw improvements within the ranks thanks to the arrival of Smith (he came on for the last minute of the first half) and Jamie George, but there was still little to be positive about from the hosts whose full-time tackle completion stat was 82 per cent.
Luke Cowan-Dickie
The Sale Sharks hooker struggled at the lineout and was quickly hooked by Steve Borthwick as the England coach looked to shore up the set-piece. Only on the field for 29 minutes, his removal would have hugely affected his stock within the England ranks.
Freddie Steward
The full-back’s day ended comically prematurely. Following a sin bin, which coincided with Ireland scoring 14 unanswered points, he returned to the field for only a matter of seconds before his number was called out. Smith was the replacement sent on as Borthwick desperately searched for a more attacking threat to counteract the existing Irish onslaught.
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