Tell us what you thought of today’s match between Ireland and England. Did the game unfold as you expected?
Give the match a rating out of ten, and then share your opinions in the comments below.
Loading ...Rate the Match: Ireland v England 2017
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Can we have a ‘rate the 6N’?
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Great test POM was everywhere Sexton
gave a masterclass
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England outplayed tactically for vast parts of the game. Sexton played a masterclass proving he is the number one for Lions fly-half.
Was it something like 75% Irish territory and possession. It felt like more with England never looking like scoring!
On the plus side they will learn from it. EJ is a fast learner and will realise he should have tactically played a similar game to the irish. Next time Eddie.
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Why didn’t this go according to plan?Why didn’t we cope?At a loss to understand.What I do understand is we played poorly in 4 games out of 5 in 6N and were lucky to beat France and Wales.We have gone backwards since Xmas.
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Terrific performance from Ireland and a well deserved win. Showed up England’s lack of a real ball winner in the back row. Hartley was once again completely anonymous and did not lead from the front when it was badly needed, and it was quite obvious that once again the pack looked far more together when Care was at the base controlling traffic and distributing quickly. O’Mahoney was the best back row player on the field and may have put up a late hand for the Lions tour. Sexton deserves to be better protected by refs and Itoje for the first time looked slightly out of his depth. Would hate to be Warren Garland at present as he probably has less idea of his best team after this tournament than before it started. Ref was OK but should have picked up more on players being held down after making tackles.
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Poor game as a spectacle, breakdown and offside line an utter mess plus the weather made for a rather turgid affair.
England were dire. So many stipid penalties and unforced errors. In hindsight it would have been a travesty for them to have got the GS having played poorly for 3.5 matches. That said, having played so poorly we were only one score away from a GS, which means we’re a bloody difficult side to beat. That’s something I suppose.
Ireland played very well, but I’m sorry that isn’t good enough to be world beaters, that said they were missing a number of key players so well done to their replacements.
Disappointed. But maybe this is the kick England and Eddie need. Flankers, full back and scrum half options required. Daly needs to have a more influential role, possibly in place of Joseph who never seems to have a good game against the top sides.
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I feel overall we have struggled in the pack. Whilst individually in the pack we have talent i feel collectively they have struggled with the better packs in Ireland, Wales and France most noticably at the breakdown. Against Scotland we came up against a weaker pack and once the backs were released with space they delivered. Whilst Lawes and Launchbury have been solid, I’d like to see Itoje and Kruis back to our 1st choice locks, and we really do need to identify a 6 and 7 for the future not relying on Robshaw and Haskell. My comments are not to be taken as too critical on the pack as a lot of the issues were by circumstance i.e injuries, or players coming back from injury but it was worrying how Ireland suffocated our ball with ease
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Ireland deserved winners today, but to be honest I believe we will be better of in the long run for having lost today. Brown and heartily have run there corse, and as great as Robashaw and Haskell have been for us I believe they are wasted caps from this point forth as now we need to pick players who will be peaking in 2019. England lost today but overall are in a very good place, hopefully this would breed out any complacency.
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Agree about Hartley Alex. Anonymous all winter. Definitely don’t agree about Brown who was outstanding under the high ball today. Haskell looked as if his toe was still giving him gyp , and I would not write off Robshaw yet. We got well beaten today because we had nobody to get over the ball and turn it over. Even good players can’t win without possession. To me the biggest problem apart from Hartley remains Youngs at the base of the scrum. Slow pass and not enough direction. We always look more dangerous with Care. Hopefully EJ will try Robson and possibly Chudley on the summer tour.
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England played as well as Ireland allowed today. Congrats to Ireland for a well deserved victory. We were out thought and outfought. POM was exceptional, don’t often see the likes of Itoje and Lawes mugged at the lineout.
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Agreed. Much as Ireland suffered in Cardiff, England suffered in Dublin with the mistakes coming from the oppressive pressure far more often than from accidental error. Which will definitely have the Irish team feeling vindicated after last weekend’s loss!
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I questioned whether Ireland deserved to be in the top 4 seedings and it was fitting that it was in their hands to beat England to prevent Scotland? I think it would have been from getting tier one ranking (after France beat Wales). So yeah they vindicated themselves well I thought. I think the gap between the top 9 teams is tighter than ever.
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Disappointing result and performance but not too surprising. This is an excellent Ireland team playing at home and England haven’t quite been up to scratch this tournament. No need to panic – some lessons learned but no great shake up required.
Hooker is interesting – wonder if a club move might bring Hartley’s form back (consistenly) to go with his leadership?
Marler/Mako and Cole/Sinckler isn’t perfect but offers good balance.
I think the 2nd row needs Kruis plus Lawes or Launchbury. Retain Itoje at 6 (and hope Sarries use him there a bit more often). POM was brilliant today but Maro should be able to offer those qualities and more. I hold a blind hope that Kvesic does something for Exeter that convinces Eddie to use him at 7.
Also can’t shake the idea that Slade/Farrell could be a more complete version of Ford/Farrell.
We have a healthy selection of outside backs that can be selected to suit the opposition. Earls at Sarries might be next into the group.
Scrum half I always struggle to judge but are Youngs and Care really consistent/complete enough? Youngs’ service was doing Ford no favours today. Would hope other options can be explored.
Congrats to Ireland, deserved victory for an admirable team.
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I’d love someone to explain to me why England did not contest a single Irish line out. Especially after Wales gave them such a torrid time last week
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Kruis was a loss for England in that department, it just got exposed in that game.
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Good point Pablito, no idea why either. No need to throw the baby out the bath water but that was really frustrating to watch. All the cliches about playing Ireland in Dublin etc came true..
England don’t become a bad side overnight, but it’s a wake up call, I don’t see the need for changes in personnel, clearly wev been second best at the breakdown against ire and Wales but almost the same back row matched the aussies.
Would like to see this underhill chap in Argentina in the summer and zach mercer too.
In the back line I’m torn between having Farrell, teo, daly or sticking with the tried and tested.
Oh an btw well played Ireland strangled the game like a boa constrictor and without a number of key players.
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Fab result….
Yet again England players/coaches/media and fans got so up themselves and thought it was already in the bag.
England were lucky to beat France and lucky to beat Wales.
Ireland showed quite clearly that England are not as great and all their supporters claim they like to think they are.
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You’re right. But do you know what, I’ll console myself with the back to back championships, world record equalling run, and away whitewash against Australia.
How have Wales been doing?
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Is he/she right? I haven’t seen media /coaches/players/fans claiming it was in the bag. I’m sure there are scattered examples but for the most part it was cautious respect and hope.
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I suspect that is Enoch spouting his usual bile.
England lose 1 game in 19. Yup, you’re dead right, they really showed us!
Anyone fancy a glass of red and a croissant?
Allons, enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
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Absolutely!
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Benjit
Well said Benjit my son!
There were always going to be bitter and snide comments made as soon as that FIRST defeat came. Just a shame it came on Saturday.
As virtually all the sports writers are saying apart from Jones (not surprising) is that this is the kick up the pants EJ needed.
I look forward to the autumn, the Lions, Argentina and next years 6N.
EJ will need to look at some new flankers (Robshaw and Hask looking old for 2019)
Someone said it above: “Take a look at Underhill” ; a sentiment i’ve advocated since February when he became England eligible. Will have to take a look at Mercer though (don’t know of him).
Not overly worried by Saturday’s result.
As far as revenge being a dish best served cold: need look no further than England v Ireland at Twickenham 2018
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You should probably worry about your own teams performance before criticising others. I’m guessing you are Welsh? Sour grapes at being beaten by the luckier team? You’ve always got Italy for company at the bottom of the table.
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The one set piece that did seem to be working well for England was the rolling maul…so was anyone else surprised when Farrell went for the posts when they had that penalty (won from a completely dominant rolling maul) with just over 10 mins to play, at 13-6 down? With the three points from the penalty, England still needed either a try anyway (or two penalties) to win – surely drawing the score equal at that point in the game would have made more sense? Or were they concerned about POM poaching at the lineout? Though again, they had just won successful lineout ball and done brilliantly with the maul, so if anything, confidence should have be high on that front. Or did shades of the Wales game in the World Cup come back to haunt…
Overall, I agree with others who found the game a poor spectacle and the breakdown a hot mess. Thought the Irish were completely deserving of the victory. Re the late hits on Sexton – to what extent is some of that due to his skill at delaying the pass until the last moment, to excellent effect in terms of releasing players into gaps, but with the unfortunate consequence that flankers flying in for the tackle will often hit after the ball has gone?
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100% agree, Claire (see my comment below on the main thread). I was watching the match with my father-in-law and was shouting “go for the corner and lineout!” That was the moment missed and the match gone…
Ireland also did a great job with targeting Vunipola and Haskell (our big gums!) when they had ball in hand, designed to crush our spirits….which it did so effectively….
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Oops – typo above….”big guns!”
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As an England fan I am disappointed we didn’t get the Grand Slam, but still happy we are Six Nations Champions two years on the trot. We didn’t cope with Ireland’s intensity and they won fair and square.
If I was an Irish fan I would be far more disappointed as they were so inconsistent. Brilliant against England and France but slow and plodding against Scotland and Wales.
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That was a poor show by England… The pressure told in the end!! All week the talk was about breaking records and playing New Zealand in November…the Irish must have loved that!!
I still can’t work out why we (England) did not challenge any line outs…?
More importantly though at 66 minutes at 13-6 to Ireland, we had our best match-winning opportunity…we had just started to get a big of rhythm for the first time in the match and just rolled our maul so effectively from the lineout on the 22 yard line to within a couple of metres of the Irish try line, forcing a penalty…. This was our moment…the time to make the big call….as Ireland had in the first half in a mirrored irony as it turned out. I know conventional wisdom these days suggests that you should take the points, but these pivotal one-off moments demand greatness and bold decisions…. We went safe and with it went the match…we took the penalty and 3 points… Yet Ireland in this moment went bold….as we found out in the first half, it is so difficult to defend a good mauling team from a lineout a couple of metres out….and we are very good at that!. I honestly think with the momentum of the previous maul we would have definitely scored and I would have backed Farrell to convert and the scores would have been level… Completely different complexion….momentum with us…this would have amassed the pressure on Ireland and got our “finishers/finishing” tail up!!
Instead the end petered out and felt like the end of Lancaster’s time when you would be shouting and screaming at the screen for white shirts to support a tacked player or get to the breakdown quicker…seemed like we were totally spent again in the dying minutes…the team scattered always the ominous sign…
All that said fairplay to Ireland (green shirts where everywhere all game!) and Sexton – he is a superb tactician and executes so well so consistently and adapts so well to what is in front of him….and of course and an immense warrior… He must surely be the first name on the Lions team sheet…
Overall a fair reflection of where England and the other home nations are currently….not much to split them with England marginally ahead but anyone able to beat anyone on a given day…. We’ll see if England can go to the next level know….our defining moment….
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If you go on the bases that the set of fixtures last year were ‘A’ (Italy, France and Scotland away) and this year was ‘B’ (Ireland and Wales away) I think it is much harder to win on the B years, particularly in recent years and I think history
Might agree (iv not bothered to check-too lazy) however it does seem a bloody tall task to go to Dublin on the final day to win the slam (as wev failed there numerous times before) can we have Italy instead please?
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Too many English mistakes with Brown butchering a try in the first 20 mins which would have been a decider at the end of the game. I think that too many key English players under performed through pressure from the Irish. However for fear of being accused of soar grapes did not C J Stander obstruct Launchbury from trying to tackle Henderson before he scored his try. Would like to hear opinions just in case I’ve been a bit bias but then I was born on St Georges Day and a Taurean.
Still made to look very ordinary against a very spirited Irish side. For England always very difficult to win in Dublin
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Ireland turned up with a game plan, executed said game plan and won the game.
England turned up.
Eddie will learn from this but I was a bit shocked when I saw the team to start, yes I understand why Watson started but I still would’ve started Nowell and also Hughes over Billy for the sheer fact that bringing Billy on at the moment ups the game, yes he is a better player than Hughes but Hughes softening a team up for Billy works better than the other way round.
I am not saying this should be the way England should be just for that game.
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Not the greatest game of the tournament. Lots of passion from the Irish but not much in the way of great rugby from either side.
Thought the ref was rubbish, especially at the breakdown where he was very unclear – but I guess he was equally rubbish to both sides. Felt the Irish pack were a bit more streetwise in taking advantage of the breakdown mess though.
Nowell should have started for his work rate. BV doesn’t look 100% fit. Youngs had another poor game and Haskell had one of the games he used to have under Lancaster, where he is pretty ineffectual, not shifting players at the breakdown and being driven back or held up in the tackle.
POM gave Itoje a masterclass in blind side play – more proof that he should be back at lock as soon as possible. Can’t help but feel it’d been a different game if we’d had Robshaw and Kruis back.
And on that note and as I metioned above, what the hell was going on in the lineouts? We have three superb lineout players in Lawes, Itoje and Launchbury – all of whom are adept at stealing opposition ball – and an opposition with a hooker known for his flaky throwing and missing their giant lock. And yet we did not contend a single Irish lineout!!
Why on earth not, given the week before the Welsh had shown just how vunerable it was and how much losing that certainty gave the Irish problems. Even for Irish lineouts in their own 22 there was no attempt to even spoil the throw, instead they gave Ireland the easy throw and let them happily clear their lines.
Crazy considering Itoje was nicking oppo lineouts for fun in last year’s 6 Nations and against the Aussies. It was one of our major strengths.
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