Sweet Chariot Rolls Over Irish in Twickenham

A blistering first half that yielded four tries set up England for a 45-11 victory over Ireland at a bright and sunny Twickenham. In that first half England were simply superb and would not have been flattered if they had been even further ahead.

They led 31-6 at the break and it looked at that stage as if they were about to give their opponents a record beating. At the interval Cive Woodward is said to have asked his side to be ruthless in the second period and asked them ‘not to forget Dublin’. Within minutes of the restart they had extended their lesad when Ben Kay scored try number five and the sixth arrived shortly afterwards courtesy of Will greenwood who had an easy run in after Austin Healey had done the spade work.

But then Ireland gained some degree of composure and they enjoyed the best of things in the final quarter. Ronan O’Gara, a half-time replacement for Rob Henderson (who had come on for Geordan Murphy (pictured) in the 9th minute), scored a try and David Wallace, Malcolm O’Kelly and Peter Stringer were each stopped short in the closing stages.