England & Ireland the minute by minute

[Digby]

'Tis an intentional act to leave out the Vs, essentially this was a game England dominated and if anything could be billed as England Vs England because their dominance was paired less than brilliantly with their refusal to do anything and that was the only meaningful contest in the game.

In advance it feels like this process will start badly and get worse, it might even take several people to complete it because this one might be as dangerous as Vogon poetry to review.

Minute 1

Ireland kick off left to Billy, James Lowe chases hard but runs the wrong side of Lawrence who's ahead of Billy, Billy runs out of the 22 and POM makes the tackle. Youngs kicks clear up over halfway, too far to be contested, and landing around 10m infield. Looking at the Keenan's footwork making the catch there's probably a breeze push the ball away from the touchline. We have Underhill and George on the chase, George doesn't bust a gut given the kick isn't contestable. GP pops the ball one out to Lowe on the shoreside/left and he's tackled down by George and JJ, George is right at the top of the shoulder. Ireland go right to Porter who's put down on the tackle line by Sinckler, a draw in contact but Ireland going backwards over the play. Ireland right again to Byrne, and he has 3 defenders ahead of him in his channel and 1 wider, and as so often England send 2 defenders (Curry and Youngs in this instance) up against the first receiver which doesn't quite work here as Byrne is so deep they don't get to him and the ball right again from Byrne allows POM to cut back a little into a slight gap opening between Curry putting pressure on Byrne and Mako the next man in the line. POM is over the tackle line, but not over the gain line

Ireland put 3 men over the ball, at least 2 seem to have some balance issues and are unable to keep their feet, poor lads. Ireland on the next phase of course have no overlap with a carrier down, 3 ruck inspectors and a 9 all at the ball and England all on their feet, and they're not looking to play again. Byrne puts up a high kick, not much distance but it's certainly contestable, May jumps against Earls and can't catch cleanly but taps it back. The ball could bounce up nicely for (Chris) Farrell but doesn't, and then rather than try to ruck over the ball Green 13 gets interested in the ball from a poor body position and gets easily driven out Daly and blocks Aki helping into the bargain.

England pass right/open where Curry makes a couple of metres before being tackled down, Youngs picks up with 6 England players on the floor or ahead of the ball, or being him with the ball, essentially there aren't going to be many options.


Minute 2

Youngs tries to box kick without blockers and Kelleher applies pressure, either the ball comes off Kelleher and skews up in the air or it's a comically bad kick under pressure. The kick goes 2-3m and England knock it on as Ireland take the ball. Ryan passes from the base to POM who's on his own and ambles into contact against Billy, carrier and tackler go to floor, Ireland put 3 players over a ruck England don't contest. GP passes right to Green 13 who tries to cut inside of Joe, but Joe makes a decent low tackle and Sinckler perhaps thinks he can help and get at the ball but just ends up off his feet. GP makes a short book kick ahead under pressure from Itoje, Itoje standing where he feels like it, and Earls takes the kick with a slight juggle ahead of Youngs. And Earls stumbles to ground unbalanced after claiming the kick.

Mako comes through a side door to get hands on the ball albeit only with Earls falling over preceding that, Kelleher contests possession and the refs tells Mako to release because he's the tackler. There's perhaps an argument to be made Mako shouldn't have hands on the ball but there wasn't a tackle so god only knows what the ref saw and he's saying 'tackler release now'

Ireland do have England backtracking a little, but they've also got 8-9 players essentially stood in the same channel having been attracted to the ball, so the election by Byrne to put in a diagonal kick out to the left for Lowe to chase isn't a bad one, but the execution allows Daly a comfortable take in metres os space.

Daly kicks the mark off the pitch still a little shy of our 10m line.

[Digby]

Minute 3


Camera goes live to Eddie who's done very well to have his scarf inside out with the label showing, you just can't buy that kind of product placement other than you can, and if you know Eddie and get a scarf for Christmas don't be surprised as Eddie's product placement has surely earned him a good few free samples other than if more than 28 people stayed watching this match they all need help.

Ireland win the 4 man lineout, pass down off the top to GP who runs from the front of the lineout to the 15m line before passing to Aki. Aki runs upfield into Mako and gets tackled down. Overall Ireland have gained a couple of metres and have split the field, which is good, but they get a 4 second play the ball off 1st phase attack off a ruck we don't contest. Still a nicely disguised play by Ireland who go one out to Kelleher, this is brand new inventive stuff. Billy is pushing up and across from Kelleher's inside and doesn't quite make the tackle, but George does and Ryan takes the lot down with an arm around George's head, it's not dangerous, and it's about the only part of George he can reach but it's not low.

Right again to Porter and he's put down on the tackle line by Lawrence and then Billy. GP passes back to Byrne who's sat deep with no options. Byrne dinks ahead into coffin corner down the right, May tracks back and collects on the bounce and passes inside Daly. Earl switches attention from May to Daly and puts good pressure on the space Daly wants for the kick leaving Daly to pass one handed out of the tackle back outside where Slade collects the pass and kicks down the left touchline.


Minute 4

Byrne takes it into the Irish half and passes into the middle to Keenan, who throws it on again to Lowe who tries a low kick through a number of players, the kick is deflected allowing Sinckler to gather and go to ground, from the base Youngs passes right to Mako who seems to drive very easily into contact. Ball recycled and from the base Youngs corrects his previous pass by kicking the ball away.

Keenan can't take the ball cleanly, indeed knocks it on but it's play on and Ireland are able to gather and recycle, GP passes left from the base to Lowe, and Lowe elects to send a low kick towards a line of players. Not sure why Lowe is such a fan of directing low kicks at obstacles, this one rebounds of George or Mako and luckily for Lowe straight back into his arms. He gets taken down by Mako and Maro, Ireland recycle and GP box kicks down into England's half where nobody takes the ball cleanly but after a bounce JJ gather, not the best work from Lawrence blocking Irish runners contesting the kick he could give himself more space to JJ and force around coming around to run a longer line.

JJ runs into contact in the middle of the pitch on our 10m line.

[Digby]

Minute 5

Youngs passes right to Billy at first receiver, Billy could and perhaps should shift the ball but his first instinct here is to take contact, against Ryan and Kelleher he loses contact, and only then tries to pass to Lawrence but really only drops the ball forwards. Lawrence and Green 13 try to drop on the ball and it's Ireland who regather the pill. GP with ball at the base looks to kick off his left down the left into coffin corner but just boots the ball out on the full. However having the ball isn't deemed an advantage under a knock on advantage because ? and it's a scrum to Green.

Minute 6

There's some treatment for POM so maybe 2 minutes of rest are added in, following which England engage early so it's a reset scrum. So really nothing has happened for 4 minutes if just 2 on the match clock

[Digby]

Minute 7

Ireland sort of get the ball back in the scrum but Doris has Lenny all over him as he tries to pick the ball up and then Curry weighs in, but Doris does get to ground and Curry can't rip the ball away. Ireland going backwards but at least keeping the pill. Kelleher passes right from the base where Ryan taps it on to Roux, I suspect that was more accident than as intended from Ryan and Roux promptly loses contact with Underhill. GP has had enough going backwards, for now, and kicks from the base, this time off his right peg.

Daly gathers on the bounce and mostly evades Keenan albeit Keenan gets a good hand on Daly's shirt and does well to hang on, Ireland give a powerful counter drive which Curry and Itoje do well to resist. Lenny passes left where Billy wins contact with Roux . Ball recycled and from the base Lenny kicks down to almost halfway where Keenan makes the catch and lands into Joe coming back down.


Minute 8

If you're Ireland you might think Joe doesn't roll away much after tackling Keenan down. If you're England you'd say meh, Curry is the relevant player strong over the ball. The ref goes with England and it's a penalty to White.

White 10 kicks down a little short of the Ireland 22 on our left.

Joe wins the lineout at the front and passes down to Lenny who spins a fine pass out to White 10. I still wonder at the decision to take ball at the front and play it out but whatever. White 10 starts to suggest he might challenge the line but drops the ball off to Lawrence, the pass to Lawrence is in front of Lawrence but Lawrence is still slightly reaching behind for it so by a smidge Lawrence has perhaps accelerated early, fine margins, but whilst Lawrence wins contact with Byrne he's bringing the ball around in the catch not getting ready to present it back. Aki might get over the ball but JJ solves that by clearing out over the top of Aki and then landing on Aki's legs which takes Aki off his feet and out of the contest, Mako arriving helps but JJ will not in all instances get away with that technique.

Lenny passes right to White 10 who makes a perfectly fine pass to Slade going right again and Slade skips Daly throwing a miss one to May. It's not bad as such but Ireland happily drift along, Keenan comes up into the line to defend May. Not the best tackle you'll see as Keenan goes low and drives up, but May instantly has an arm out to negate any tip and Lowe is there to grab around May's torso. On another day Keenan could get himself into a little trouble, as could any player against a player breaking past them in fairness.

[Digby]

Minute 9

Watching live, and not having all my attention pondering whether Flats, POC or Hartley has the worst moustache (the correct answer is all 3), I had wondered if Daly was a little of his feet driving over our ball, but he's probably okay in what passes for rucking.

Lenny passes out past Itoje to Underhill and he drives to the outside of Healy. Healy takes Sam low and Ryan has him around the neck. Ryan though is worried he hasn't cheated obviously enough so goes off his feet and starts flapping at the ball.

Presented with a banker 3 points in front of the posts Lenny taps and goes, I applaud the spirit but there are perhaps better places to do it from than turning down easy points. Lenny feeds White 10 and he has the money ball back inside to George if only there wasn't the obvious presence of Stander in the way, White 10 makes the pass anyway and amazingly it's not taken by George but knocked back by Stander, which stops a try but leaves Ireland running back trying to clear up a loose ball near their own try line. Lowe just about gets a kick away under pressure from Itoje, it's another low kick but this one is more excusable. May picks up with no brilliant options but an unorganised defence to run at. Watching live I probably wasn't alone in thinking just run young man, instead he sets up a safe ruck from which Lenny passes left to White 10. White 10 could drop the ball back inside to Joe and Mako to set a ruck, or pass wide to JJ and Lawrence where it'd probably be 1 on1 drift defence making the tackle and a recycle. Instead White 10 kicks the ball low towards the corner flag and the ball rolls out the wrong side of the flag which is around 6m away from where you'd reasonably target, or if not misdirected it's kicked too hard. Drop out Ireland

Minute 10

Ireland drop out long over our 10m line, Daly catches and send a highish kick back into Ireland's half and White 10 works hard off the ball to run up and make pointless contact with the player in the air to concede a pen. I mean just wtf? He really has made an effort to be in position to get penalised

[Digby]

Minute 11

Ireland kick the penalty out to pretty much halfway but then the throw isn't straight, scrum White

Minute 12

After a stalled first effort at a scrum the ref stops the clock to speak to both sides about the scrum. Then whilst the reset scrum goes down England have the ball at the back, channel 1, and play can continue. No surprise the ball comes back on England's side, as has so often proved the case the idea the IRB told us the truth about wanting straight feeds is laughable, and offensively so.

Nonetheless from the base Youngs throws a miss one past White 10 to Slade, the pass is a little too high and checks Slade coming forwards onto the ball, mission accomplished for Lenny. With GP having worked over from the scrum England have a 6 on 5, and Ireland have the touchline to drift to and the 15 in behind. Slade passes to Lawrence who runs fairly straight at Aki, a moves the ball just ahead of the tackle to Daly outside him, the ball goes forward over the halfway but it's all momentum for me and the hands went back enough in the pass, Daly gets ball and Green 13 and tries to offload out of the tackle but the ball goes loose. White 10 gather pops it up to Slade who shows the pass towards JJ and then tries to make ground driving between Earls and Byrne, takes the tackle of Earls and tries to offload out of the tackle to JJ, it's the 2nd offload which doesn't go to hand, JJ can take it but it's looped and checks us whilst Ireland have time to drift.

JJ can drive though the tackle of GP and somehow we're making ground, our lack of accuracy in passing/offloads is perhaps throwing the Irish defence, they're anticipating adequacy, the fools. Having played left going across the halfway Lenny passes back to the right and Curry carries towards Ryan, Roux and Doris

[Digby]

Minute 13

Billy and Maro ensure a recycle after Curry is put down, and Lenny passes right to White 10, the pass checks White 10 or would if he was moving and is also a little high. White 10 drops the short ball off to Joe who goes into contact, recycled by Sincks and Underhill and we've lost 5m on that play. White 10 sits a little deeper on the next play suggesting he might look to kick but has Mako running outside him and Slade on the pullback. We do enact the pullback to Slade and even with the defender ahead of Mako not biting on the dummy run by Mako and able to drift across we've till got a 2 on 1 in the line, albeit there's still a touchline and Lowe will come up into the line. Sadly whilst Slade finds Daly and Daly finds our man on the outside our man on the outside is George, George drives inside Lowe gets tackled down and Green 13 who'd drifted across is there to contest the ball. Daly does well to stop the counter ruck by (presumably intentionally) losing contact over the ball with Green 13 so much Green 13 is well past the ball and out of the game.

Having played right we're now heading left (did Gats design this attack?) and Lenny has 2 forwards stood as receives, throws a miss one past Maro to Sinckler, and Sincks gets put down comfortably by Kelleher and Roux. We've had enough of playing and going nowhere to from the next recycle White 10 hangs a high kick out to the left where JJ could contest with Earls but overruns the ball.

Earl now with the ball looks to kicks down the right touchline rather than try to win contact against Billy, but as he goes to kick KK is recovering from not contesting the ball to jump back and ankle tap Earls to drop the ball forward.

Minute 14


England win a penalty at the scrum being adjudged the team going forwards in what I can only term a mess. Ball kicked into touch down the left into Ireland's 22

[Digby]

Minute 15

England win the lineout and start to drive a maul, that splinters a little but England continue ahead until POM comes in at a comedy angle from the side. Ball to ground but England playing with an advantage

White 10 tries to chip down the middle but Green 13 is back to collect in-goal, and we're back for the penalty


Minute 16

We're on the attack kicking the ball to touch, we're looking to play quickly of course. At 40 odd seconds into the minute we finally start to look to throw the ball in and then the ref breaks it up to look for a gap. Normally you need a scrum for so little to happen

[Digby]

Minute 17

England win the lineout which Ireland to try to contest. We drive the maul again, again it splinters but we're still going forwards and then the ball is either ripped from Billy or he drops it trying to offload back, I assume it's ripped away from Billy. Sinckler drops on the ball, it's recycled and Lenny passes e're so slightly behind Lawrence on a hard carry one out, Lawrence takes the pass and presents it back in contact from a double tackle, but it can't help him go into contact or present the ball back.

Next as with getting on with the lineout we just don't get on with the play, we're on attack, we're but a couple of metres from the try line, we have a 5 second ruck as we organise on attack, such as it is. Next up Mako on the carry and Healy has gone offside.

With the advantage we again kick towards the in-goal, this time out to the right where coming forwards May is probably favourite over Keenan, Kennan resolves any issues in contesting the ball by running to stand on the wrong part of the pitch. May catches the ball and Lowe coming across can't stop him falling over the line and grounding the ball. Not the first person to be stood in the wrong part of the pitch is Keenan as a ball came down, so maybe conditions are somewhat tricky but that wasn't impressive from a player who looks rather decent.

Minute 18

Faz pushes the kick just to the right of the posts from out on the right.

[Digby]

Minute 19

Ireland kick out to the left where Billy takes the ball and is tackled down by a hard chasing Lowe, Lowe is then very active at the ruck which doesn't get him anywhere but is forcing the England forwards to work. Lenny kicks down the right touchline, Lawrence chases as the winger and JJ as the centre inside. Keenan takes this one and stays on his feet under pressure from Underhill and then Lawrence and pushes the ball back to GP he sends the ball one Kelleher who manages to edge forward a little with some help from Ryan, but then Porter and Ryan combine to clear George away leaving GP to contest the ball against Joe. Joe isn't judged to be on the ball so it's close but fair play to GP who along with Kelleher perhaps not giving a clean release survive a few seconds against Joe until Keenan runs across and Porter gets back around. Healy plays 9 and it one out down the left/shortside to Green 13

Minute 20

Ireland recycle the ball and GP box kicks down the left. Again I think it not the best blocking work from Lawrence, he's too close to JJ allowing Lowe a run around his outside shoulder. Though Lawrence might care to make the case JJ rather takes a step off his line towards Lawrence, which doesn't matter too much as Sinckler is being even less discrete on the other side and gets pinged for blocking. We should have been able to block there without stepping off the line, poor work from England.

Ireland kick to touch with their penalty, down the left well into England's 22

[Digby]

Minute 21

Ireland throw the ball over POM who's lifted almost high enough, maybe the throw was a little early or the lift a little late. But at least there's little risk down near England's line.

The ball bounces over the back of the lineout and as is so often the case a bouncing ball exposes a defence.

Byrne runs up to try and grab the ball going loose on Ireland's side but it bounces unkindly inside him, he can only knock on where Itoje is waiting, Itoje does mess around and moves it left to Lawrence and Lawrence moves it left again to Slade. Whether either of those have in mind putting it wide I don't know, they might just be looking for someone to clear and Slade's left foot could do that job nicely, but what Slade can see is courtesy of that bouncing ball Ireland had been turned in, and now to recover Ireland are almost to a man running/scrambling sideways across the pitch to recover, and that's not an easy position to defend tackle from when you can't line up shit.

Slade moves it to May who feints to the inside should of Green 13 and then steps to his outside. It's not going to be easy to defend May when he has space, it's just too much pace 1 on 1, and when he's not even lined up harder still, I cannot hold what happens against Green 13. May then starts to open his legs and burns Aki and Earls, and then cleverly kicks ahead still well short of Green 15. And this is where Ireland do get it wrong, because May simply cannot be allowed to keep running, GP is trying to track the run of May but is a little short of pace up against May, so really it's on Keenan to block May, and hopefully with enough subtlety he doesn't get a yellow, but with the ball kicked in behind him Keenan turns to chase back and actually turns out of the path of May rather than into it, proper French fullback tendencies to the fore, as May approaches the ball again to further nudge/kick it ahead GP is really close because the defender doesn't need to slow to the skill point and he could just tackle May, this time it would be a yellow for sure but still, take one for the team, he doesn't and May is able to edge ahead again and ground the ball before POM can recover back. I would like to note the first of those kicks from May was exceptional, he barely broke stride at real pace. I still think Ireland shouldn't defend that like Jonathan Webb leaving the runner on his feet, though Keenan and GP might rejoin by telling the forwards to win uncontested lineout ball if they would be so good, but fair play to May for the pace, for the footwork to beat Farrell, for the skill of that kick and for the strength and fitness to keep running, an outstanding individual score.

Minute 22

White 10 kicks the extras

Ireland kick off left to Billy. Which I don't like much either because if there's a time to kick to May it's now, he must be sucking in some deep breaths and instead you choose to target Billy. In fairness Ireland do a good job getting Billy down and Ryan keeps pushing until the ref makes clear he has to release now, so at least there's some pressure coming on England.

[Digby]

Minute 23

Oddly Lenny box kicks down the right as an exit play, these kicks I don't mid in the slightest. Being very boring and very error free on exit plays sounds simple but so many points are given away by sides who give in to boredom. JJ and Lawrence chase and tackle down Keenan, Underhill tries to get over the ball but Lowe clears him out.

Ireland play out to Doris who gets knocked back in contact but keeps trying to stay up and drive. Once he's down a few players try to get over the ball, but then and once there's a ruck Joe goes at the ball rather than rucking Ryan, and whether you want to say hands in the ruck, off his feet you really have a choice of offences.

Minute 24

Ireland kick to touch in England's 22, England agree they're giving Ireland the front, Ireland throw to the front. Doris wins ball agains the non jumping Billy, passes pack to GP who spins it out to Lowe stood at 10.

Lowe promptly falls over which at least means White 10 can't fold over the ball as he might have done.

[Digby]

Minute 25

Ireland run a number of phases edging backwards. Although I'm not convinced Lawrence on Healy was as such a tackle, not easy to use the arms when that low but still. It doesn't make much difference as a couple of phases later and a similar distance from the line White 10 enters a ruck from the side to give away another daft penalty.

Minute 26

Ireland kick to touch on their left in our 22. This time England don't give the front up for free with Joe at the front and then Maro is in the middle. Ireland decide to take on Maro in the middle, which given they've got Doris and POM and could throw to the back is an interesting choice, Maro does get up and disrupt the throw, forcing Ryan to knock on. England gather and Lenny box kicks up towards our 10m line. Ireland would have a point Maro used his outside arm to apply pressure, but it wasn't seen.

[Digby]

Minute 27

England sense weakness in Kelleher as the new Rory Best, and this time put up Itoje and Joe, Joe gets at the ball which is knocked down on Ireland's side but loose, still POM gathers and has Maro for company.

Ireland run a couple of phases before Underhill gets not the ball, at which the ref brings then back for a knock on by Joe at the previous lineout. Again a long knock on advantage when they had the ball.

Minute 28

Scrum goes down but Ireland have the ball and GP plays to the left/shortside where ball is fed to Lowe to carry into Lenny. Ireland going forwards.

Ireland then set about going backwards, almost recover from a strong effort by Healy only for Byrne to step towards the pass and GP to pass where he was forcing Ireland to pass deep. This actually works for Ireland because Lenny runs out the line to nail Keenan man and ball but Keenan just passes wider to POM and Lenny is still in a different postcode, an amusingly bad defensive read.

That leaves George an JJ marking POM, Doris and Lowe. George and JJ give ground and POM carries positively into George as a consequence.

[Digby]

Minute 29

Ireland are back over the gainline the right way.

Ireland pass to the right and are then following a Curry tackle back over the gainline again, this time the wrong way.

Ireland keep going right and Green 13 makes a little ground running at Lawrence who's looking to get low and get low early for the tackle. Ireland play back to the left and it's going nowhere until a couple of plays from Lowe who manages to go forward twice. Kelleher then thinks he sees a little space inside Maro, and he does but it's fast closed by Underhill who drives Kelleher back.

England have gone at the Ireland breakdown a little more than I expected, but they're not abandoning their ambition of making big tackles to contest more, it's still mainly about big and even dominant tackles.

Ireland carry on pottering about. I might actually speed up this whole process by saying potter about whenever Ireland have the ball and aren't going anywhere.


Minute 30

Finally Ireland vary things a little on the 16th phase. the ball is passed to the 10 who passes to Earls, who floats a high loopy pass to Aki on the right wing. Aki steps inside May into Slade's channel and then drives through Slade's inside shoulder earning a few metres, but actually England don't mind teams playing to the edge it seems, if anything if just makes it easy for them to run the blitz as teams have to come back the other way, and they do live the blitz.

but this time we don't have Ireland playing to one side and then the other because Slade having gotten Aki down and regaining his feet starts driving into Earls and Green 13, he actually clears Earls back but all that really does is open a path straight ahead for GP to snip through, May doesn't want to come off his wing leaving Stander unmarked on the wing and Lawrence has to work around the ruck to get to GP. GP is then able to feed the ball inside to Earls who wasn't shoved right back by Slade, and now Slade gets the reverse in trying to defend a player breaking ahead whilst facing the touchline, Earls easily evades Slade on the inside, Earls breaks ahead and steps Daly but hasn't got the pace of reach the line before May rides him down. I'm pretty confident Daly will have been slated for this passage, but actually it's much more about how many minor errors can Slade back up before he causes a bigger problem.

Ireland play one further phase going left and choose Keenan to carry into contact over Kelleher, I guess he was stood there as an option. Underhill tackles Keenan but doesn't hold him, Kennan shambles on or tries to but Billy pushes him never releases and forces a turnover for holding on. Ireland did try and clean Billy out with both props but couldn't get him off, but they might quibble the lack of release, and it being so close to the line.

[Digby]

Minute 31

England kick out left short of the 10m line, Itoje scrabbles at a squint throw. Scrum Green

Minute 32

Ireland win their ball at the scrum, pretty stable too. GP passes left to Aki who's running at Lawrence but steps off his left to drive into White 10 and makes another few metres. Aki is a tough lad to put down, but this would count against another 10 I can think of.

Ball recycled and from the base GP picks and goes right, 'tis possible he sees a slight gap but Lawrence who helped tackle down Aki has never gone off his feet and fills the possible gap GP might have been running at. GP ends up on the deck quickly, no green shirts to help and Curry is right over the ball. Ireland can't get him off quickly enough and it's a penalty for holding on.

I noted somewhere recently England look to put pressure on the 1st receiver more than a France, notably sending double tacklers after the first receiver having tried to keep men on their feet. He we're not all flying into the ruck, we're still about making big tackles, but we're putting much more pressure on Irish ball than I'd guess Ireland were expecting.

[Digby]

Minute 33

Slade kicks out almost to halfway down the left, Joe wins the lineout at the front, England set a maul and get the ball right to the back.

Minute 34

Youngs breaks down the left, but it's well defended by GP who doesn't panic and just drops off, he could easily have gone to Lenny leaving May free on the outside but he doesn't do anything daft (this time). Youngs does still pass to May but without space he simply passes back inside to George. George passes inside to Underhill and he makes some easy metres before Doris rides him down.

Youngs picks and goes down the shortside again and this time finds Itoje who takes contact and goes to ground. GP is in over the ball doing similar to what Billy did on our line not so long back, GP effects less of a tackle on Itoje though, for which the ref pings GP, and White 10 kicks out about 10m from Ireland's line on the left.

[Digby]

Minute 35


Ryan gets up ahead of Itoje but then knocks Itoje's arm in the air. Penalty to England.

England kick to touch again, Ireland again contest in the air but Itoje is there to just win the ball ahead of Ryan. Maul set and England get the ball to the back

Minute 36

Ireland resist England's maul even with England's 10, 12 and 13 adding their weight. England also have 2 possible 9s in JJ and Lenny, which you'd have to think means Daly and May think their chances of getting the ball somewhat limited.

England sort of drive the right side of the maul up and around, but it's hardly controlled, the whole lot goes to ground and then the ball would be available at the back on England's side but POM squats down over the ball which the ref sees as ball not coming out and it's a well won scrum turnover for Ireland.

Healy getting more treatment, we could complain about adding in rest periods but it's not like we're trying to play at pace, or even play tbh

[Digby]

Minute 37

Ireland hold up their scrum and get the ball back which GP picks up at the base and heads right. Youngs gets a hand on his shorts but can't hold on. With GP at the base Ireland look to run a recovery phase to get their man back in place to pass or kick. I wouldn't want to say they flat out take the piss but once Ryan picks up and flops over the next ruck is 13 seconds before GP box kicks down the right from the base.

I'm not going to say the ref didn't say use it, but I didn't hear it. And FFS, a 13 second non play of the ball at the back of a ruck you can't contest in a game about a contest for the ball.


Minute 38

May collects the kicks and runs infield a little and up to the edge of the 22, ruck set and ball recycled, Lenny passes right to George who moves it on to Daly. Daly could work the ball back towards the forwards, or allow it to travel down the line, instead he kicks it off the outside of his left foot over the defensive line out towards the right touchline. It rolls into touch and gives Ireland a problem lineout to clear from. It's not a bad kick, it's just annoying when we've had so little ball and played so little. England can reasonably say they're winning and don't look at much risk of conceding.

[Digby]

Minute 39

Ireland win the lineout and pass back to GP who could kick clear, or he could feed the ball short to Lowe. Instead he heads off on a run to the open side on his own try line, Joe gets a piece of him but not enough, Underhill supports to get him down. Ireland are in even more trouble until Underhill forces the play ripping the ball free and dotting it down over the line whilst off his feet, penalty Ireland. Bit of a rush of blood, not the first one England have endured.

Minute 40

Ireland kick to touch, again the lineout from Ireland is a mess but they gather the loose ball over the top. Ball back to Lowe who directs another low kick down field, JJ gathers and puts in a high kick by way of return, but shanked into touch

Kelleher throws in again and Ireland win a lineout for variety's sake, then pass right, then left, then right, slowly edging back until Underhill forces a turnover. Billy makes a carry from which we could make a last play but White 10 kicks it to Keenan who calls a mark and kicks it into touch to end the half

[Digby]

Next half to follow soon or tomorrow morning. I've been ignoring people for around 90 minutes now and the atmosphere is taking a turn for the worse

[Mr Mwenda]

Slade moves it to May who feints to the inside should of Green 13 and then steps to his outside. It's not going to be easy to defend May when he has space, it's just too much pace 1 on 1, and when he's not even lined up harder still, I cannot hold what happens against Green 13. May then starts to open his legs and burns Aki and Earls, and then cleverly kicks ahead still well short of Green 15. And this is where Ireland do get it wrong, because May simply cannot be allowed to keep running, GP is trying to track the run of May but is a little short of pace up against May, so really it's on Keenan to block May, and hopefully with enough subtlety he doesn't get a yellow, but with the ball kicked in behind him Keenan turns to chase back and actually turns out of the path of May rather than into it, proper French fullback tendencies to the fore, as May approaches the ball again to further nudge/kick it ahead GP is really close because the defender doesn't need to slow to the skill point and he could just tackle May, this time it would be a yellow for sure but still, take one for the team, he doesn't and May is able to edge ahead again and ground the ball before POM can recover back. I would like to note the first of those kicks from May was exceptional, he barely broke stride at real pace. I still think Ireland shouldn't defend that like Jonathan Webb leaving the runner on his feet, though Keenan and GP might rejoin by telling the forwards to win uncontested lineout ball if they would be so good, but fair play to May for the pace, for the footwork to beat Farrell, for the skill of that kick and for the strength and fitness to keep running, an outstanding individual score.

Thanks for doing this as ever.

The stuff in bold, really depresses me, mind. Likewise the discussion of Lawrence and Mako's failures to block properly. The idea of training to cheat to such a high degree is a terrible thing if you ask me.

[Digby]

The stuff in bold, really depresses me, mind. Likewise the discussion of Lawrence and Mako's failures to block properly. The idea of training to cheat to such a high degree is a terrible thing if you ask me.

I think that's for the IRB and the refs to address, the coaches and players will just want to win, and winning sides tend to be those who're best at cheating.

[16th man]

The stuff in bold, really depresses me, mind. Likewise the discussion of Lawrence and Mako's failures to block properly. The idea of training to cheat to such a high degree is a terrible thing if you ask me.

I think that's for the IRB and the refs to address, the coaches and players will just want to win, and winning sides tend to be those who're best at cheating.

I wouldn't say that learning to track back in a way that protects your catcher is cheating. You're allowed to be on the pitch, so you should use that presence well. It's no different than being a guard at an attacking ruck protecting the scrum half.