Ireland v England: The History

Sunday’s clash of the titans sees Ireland play England for the 118th time since 1875. Last season’s 19-13 Twickenham win was the men in green’s 40th in what is the second oldest international fixture.

FACTS:

* If Eddie O’Sullivan’s Ireland can beat England on Sunday, they will be chalking up back-to-back Championship wins against the men-in-white for the first time since 1993-94. 12 years ago in Dublin, a Mick Galwey try and two penalties and a brace from drop goals from the boot of Eric Elwood saw the Irish to a 17-3 victory

* Only Anthony Foley – who is set for his sixtieth cap – of the current Ireland pack has scored points against England. The Munster number eight bagged a try on his debut back in 1995

* Denis Hickie, Girvan Dempsey – the try-scorer last year – and Ronan O’Gara have all touched down for the backs against England. O’Gara – who makes his 50th appearance on Sunday – has scored 25 points in four Tests against the English

* The biggest points tally in the fixture came in 2000’s infamous 50-18 Twickenham win for England. Ireland’s highest score is 1974’s 26-21 result in west London

* The only try hat-tricks scored in the tie came from Henry Taylor for England at Manchester in 1881, and Chris Oti at Twickenham in 1988. Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll has strangely not scored in five Tests against England

* Rory Underwood holds the overall record for most tries scored in the fixture with seven touch downs between 1984 and 1996. Five Irishmen have scored three

* Jonny Wilkinson – who last lined out for England at the 2003 World Cup final – is the leading overall scorer in the tie with 78 for England in six games. David Humphreys holds the Irish record for previous meetings with 47 points

* Mike Gibson – who played in 15 successive matches for Ireland (1964-78) – set the record for most appearances in this series. Rory Underwood appeared 14 times for England

* In the past 29 years, England have only lost their first three Championship games once. That was in 1987, when they shipped early defeats to Ireland, France and Wales

England: WWLWLLLLWWLLL
Results: 04: Won 50-9 v Italy, Won 35-13 v Scotland, Lost 13-19 v Ireland, Won 31-21 v Wales, Lost 21-24 v France, Lost 3-36 v New Zealand, Lost 12-36 v New Zealand, Lost 15-51 v Australia, Won 70-0 v Canada, Won 32-16 v South Africa, Lost 19-21 v Australia. 05: Lost 9-11 v Wales, Lost 17-18 v France

* England coach Andy Robinson has had an inauspicious start to his four-year reign, having been appointed as Sir Clive Woodward’s successor last October. Two wins and three defeats smacks of a squad in transition. As a wounded animal however, England can pose a threat, especially with a record of four wins from six of their last visits to Dublin

Ireland: LWWWWLLWWWWW
Results: 04: Lost 17-35 v France, Won 36-15 v Wales, Won 19-13 v England, Won 19-3 v Italy, Won 37-16 v Scotland, Lost 17-31 v South Africa, Lost 17-26 v South Africa, Won 17-12 v South Africa, Won 55-6 v USA, Won 21-19 v Argentina. 05: Won 28-17 v Italy, Won 40-13 v Scotland

* Eddie O’Sullivan’s side are now on a nine-game unbeaten run in the Six Nations. As a coach, the Corkman has been on the end of two heavy defeats at the hands of England in 2002 and 2003

RECENT MEETINGS:

1995: Ireland 8 England 20, Lansdowne Road
1996: England 28 Ireland 15, Twickenham
1997: Ireland 6 England 46, Lansdowne Road
1998: England 35 Ireland 17, Twickenham
1999: Ireland 15 England 27, Lansdowne Road
2000: England 50 Ireland 18, Twickenham
2001: Ireland 20 England 14, Lansdowne Road
2002: England 45 Ireland 11, Twickenham
2003: Ireland 6 England 42, Lansdowne Road
2004: England 13 Ireland 19, Twickenham