Ireland deny England title in a thriller
IT ENDED in heartbreak at The Rec as England, after thinking they had secured the title in the dying seconds, were forced to lick their wounds following Luke Murphy’s last-gasp try which ended the home side’s chances of a first Grand Slam since 2021.
Following Ben Waghorn’s try and Sean Kerr’s pinpoint conversion with four minutes to play, England thought they had won it when Ireland knocked on with the clock in the red as the home side’s benches cleared thinking they’d toppled the back-to-back champions.
However, referee Reuben Keane was playing an advantage for a tackle in the air off the restart and, after Ireland went to the corner, sustained pressure eventually resulted in a second succesover sive stalemate – following their 34-34 draw in last summer’s World Championship – that was fitting of a brilliant battle between the competition’s top two sides.
A showdown in Pau is to come for Mark Mapletoft’s side but they will have to regroup after finding themselves in disbelief at full-time.
England head coach Mapletoft was unhappy with the late penalty as he felt the collision was fair.
He said: “Look, I’m not one for commenting on how difficult decisions are in the heat of the moment but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the contest in the air.
“Finn (Carnduff) goes up, video evidence is clear and obvious. I don’t need to go on about it. And ultimately you have got a dressing room full of gutted players and a dressing room full of semi-delighted players who managed to get out of jail.
“Quite fundamentally, it was a fair contest in the end. It shouldn’t have been a penalty. Those things sometimes go for you and sometimes don’t. But I’m really proud of the players in terms of how they stuck at it in the second half.”
Player of the match, deadeye goal kicker Kerr added: “We stuck in throughout the whole game, were sloppy at times in the first half but kept on going for the full 80. We let them get back into our 22 through penalties but it was a great game to play in. We needed to work harder in attack in the second half by creating multiple lines.
“We’ve got a lot to work on and look forward the challenge of next week’s game in France.”
England’s scrum had been formidable in their opening three games and that continued from the outset as the work at the set piece from Sale Sharks prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour won the game’s first penalty.
The ball was sent to the corner and captain Finn Carnduff rolled his way off a driving maul for the first try.
Ireland hit back with Jack Murphy, who came into round four top of the points scoring charts, knocking over a penalty from 40m out.
Murphy then produced a pinpoint kick pass to put Treacy in space and he pinned his ears back to race round the outside and touch down under the sticks to level the scores at 10-10.
The try scorer of Ireland’s first try passed back inside to O’Connor and he slid over to push Ireland five points clear.
England enjoyed more of the ball in the closing 10 minutes of the half and closed the deficit to just two points with another long-range strike from centre Kerr.
But Ireland snuck over for their third try shortly after, as another long ball from Murphy found McLaughlin on the right touchline and he slid over to extend Ireland’s lead to seven.
England then turned the tide and cut the deficit back to two points as two replacements combined for a brilliant score as George Makepeace-Cubitt produced a delicious cross field kick to find Oli Spencer.
Ireland quickly rallied and after a succession of penalties, Henry Walker reasserted a seven-point lead from the back of a lineout drive.
The ebb and flow of the game made for a pulsating finale, and it was England who produced the next blow as after Scott Kirk had done the hard yards from a tap and go, Kane James barged over and Kerr made no misma take from the tee, levelling the scores at 25-all.
England’s bonus-point try arrived three minutes later when Makepeace-Cubitt sent Waghorn over in the corner and Kerr then held his nerve to slot a conversion from out wide.
That looked to be that but there was more draO’Connell at the death. Ireland regained possession from the restart and produced a faultless last attacking drive to level the scores through a conversion from Sean Naughton after No.8 Murphy crashed over from short range in the third minute of overtime.
Ireland full-back Evan said: “That was one of the most physical games I’ve ever played in. We were leading but England came back at us through their set-piece. We’re disappointed not to win but at the same time happy to get the draw at the end given the circumstances.”