England force their way back into the Six Nations title race

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England force their way back into the Six Nations title race Posted On 24 February 2020

Dominant win for Eddie Jones’ men against Ireland on Sunday blows open the 2020 Six Nations

England ended Ireland’s Grand Slam hopes on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon at Twickenham after an error-prone performance from Ireland. Ireland invited U2 frontman, Bono, into their camp during the build-up, but their performance was neither the Sweetest Thing nor the One and by the end of the first half, they were definitely suffering from Vertigo.

After individual errors from Ireland pair Jacob Stockdale and Johnny Sexton, England went in with a 17-0 advantage at half-time. It was a half they dominated from the first minute and England fans only had to wait until the ninth minute for their first try; a gift from Sexton who failed to keep hold of the ball in-goal allowing George Ford to score.

Fifteen minutes of English domination later, they had their second try. This time it was Stockdale who made a mess of a chipped ball from Ford into the in-goal area and allowed Elliot Daly to sneak behind and pounce on the ball as it was about to roll dead. After a quick TMO check, the try was given and converted.

At the end of the first half, in the 39th minute, England were awarded a penalty which was tucked away by Owen Farrell keeping his 100% kicking record alive for the day.

Ireland came out in the second half with a little more purpose and were rewarded with a try from Robbie Henshaw in the 51st minute, but Sexton’s poor day continued when he shanked the conversion wide. Any hopes of a fightback were dead and buried in the 63rd minute when Luke Cowan-Dickie scored England’s third try of the game, again converted by Farrell.

At the death, Ireland scored their second try when Andrew Porter eventually put the ball down after a series of repeated drives. But it was too little, too late. The only downside to an otherwise good performance by England will be their failure to get a bonus point. They now sit in second place in the table, four points behind France with two rounds left.

England will next host Wales at Twickenham in two weeks’ time on Saturday, March 7th, before their final game against Italy in Rome on the 14th March.