Head-To-Head: Ireland v England

2009 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 28

IRELAND v ENGLAND, Croke Park, 5.30pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC One)

IRELAND: Robert Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Paddy Wallace, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary; Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Rory Best, Tom Court, Mick O’Driscoll, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Gordon D’Arcy, Geordan Murphy.

ENGLAND: Delon Armitage; Paul Sackey, Mike Tindall, Riki Flutey, Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Harry Ellis; Andrew Sheridan, Lee Mears, Phil Vickery, Steve Borthwick (capt), Nick Kennedy, James Haskell, Joe Worsley, Nick Easter.

Replacements: Dylan Hartley, Julian White, Tom Croft, Luke Narraway, Danny Care, Andy Goode, Mathew Tait.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Christophe Berdos (France), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television Match Official: Giulio de Santis (Italy)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 121
Ireland Won – 43
England Won – 70
Drawn – 8 (last in 1968)

Biggest Wins:

Ireland: Points & Margin: 43-13, 2007 Six Nations 

England: Points: 50-18, 2000 Six Nations; Margin: 46-6, 1997 Five Nations 

Individual Records In The Series:

Most Points In A Match: Ireland 21 (Ollie Campbell 1983, Ronan O’Gara 2007); England 23 (Paul Grayson 1996)

Most Tries In A Match: Ireland 2 (by 12 players – last by Shane Horgan 2006); England 3 (Henry Taylor 1881, Chris Oti 1988)

Ireland v England In The Six Nations:

2000 England won 50-18, Twickenham
2001 Ireland won 20-14, Lansdowne Road 
2002 England won 45-11, Twickenham
2003 England won 42-6, Lansdowne Road 
2004 Ireland won 19-13, Twickenham
2005 Ireland won 19-13, Lansdowne Road 
2006 Ireland won 28-24, Twickenham
2007 Ireland won 43-13, Croke Park 
2008 England won 33-10, Twickenham

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations:

Won 16-11 v Italy home (6N)
Lost 26-21 v France away (6N)
Won 34-13 v Scotland home (6N)
Lost 16-12 v Wales home (6N)
Lost 33-10 v England away (6N)
Lost 21-11 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 18-12 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Won 55-0 v Canada home (Autumn Series)
Lost 22-3 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 17-3 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Won 30-21 v France home (6N)
Won 38-9 v Italy home (6N)

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

92 Malcolm O’Kelly
91 John Hayes
90 Brian O’Driscoll
89 Ronan O’Gara
86 Peter Stringer
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
65 Simon Easterby
64 Shane Horgan
63 Willie John McBride
63 Marcus Horan

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

889 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
217 Ollie Campbell
182 Brian O’Driscoll

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

34 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
20 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O’Gara

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
479 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
469 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
359 Stephen Jones (Wales)
326 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

Tries –
24 Ian Smith (Scotland)
19 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
18 Cyril Lowe (England)
18 Rory Underwood (England)
18 Gareth Edwards (Wales)

(Note: Points and tries are for International Championship – the Five and Six Nations  – as Jonny Wilkinson scored his first 60 points in the old Five Nations of 1998 and 1999 and Ian Smith’s try record has stood from the 1920s)

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1099 Jonny Wilkinson (1032 England, 67 Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049 Wales, 41 Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (983 Italy, 27 Argentina)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
889 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
879 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
733 Gavin Hastings (667 Scotland, 66 Lions)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
50 Rory Underwood (49 England, 1 Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
45 Shane Williams (Wales)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
43 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
41 Gareth Thomas (40 Wales, 1 Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)

(Note: Daisuke Ohata scored 69 tries for Japan, but not all against major international opposition)

The 100 Caps Club:

139 George Gregan (Australia)
119 Jason Leonard (114 England, 5 Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
103 Gareth Thomas (100 Wales, 3 Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)

England – Form Guide From The 2007 Rugby World Cup Final:

Lost 15-6 v South Africa neutral (RWC final)
Lost 26-19 v Wales home (6N)
Won 23-19 v Italy away (6N)
Won 24-13 v France away (6N)
Lost 15-9 v Scotland away (6N)
Won 33-10 v Ireland home (6N)
Lost 37-20 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 44-12 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Won 39-13 v Pacific Islanders home (Autumn Series)
Lost 28-14 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Lost 42-6 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Lost 32-6 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 36-11 v Italy home (6N)
Lost 23-15 v Wales away (6N)

England – Most-Capped Players:

114 Jason Leonard
85 Rory Underwood
85 Lawrence Dallaglio
84 Martin Johnson
77 Matt Dawson
75 Mike Catt
72 Will Carling
71 Richard Hill
71 Rob Andrew
70 Phil Vickery
70 Jonny Wilkinson
69 Joe Worsley
69 Danny Grewcock

England – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1032 Jonny Wilkinson
400 Paul Grayson
396 Rob Andrew
296 Jon Webb
259 Charlie Hodgson
240 Dusty Hare
210 Rory Underwood (including four-point tries)

England – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

49 Rory Underwood
31 Ben Cohen
31 Will Greenwood
30 Jeremy Guscott
28 Jason Robinson
24 Dan Luger
22 Josh Lewsey
18 Cyril Lowe
17 Lawrence Dallaglio
16 Matt Dawson
16 Neil Back
15 Austin Healey
14 Mark Cueto
13 Tony Underwood
13 Mike Tindall
13 Iain Balshaw

Data supplied by SAS Software – the official data and competitive intelligence partner of the RBS 6 Nations Championship