Ireland defeated England with a record score line of 42-21. Did the majority see that score line let alone performance coming outside of the Irish camp, I very much doubt it.
Given the manner of the French defeat even though Ireland could have been within 7 pts of France mid-way through the 2nd half before France pulled away and made sure they won the game on opening night.
Ireland went to Twickenham looking for a performance after the tight win over Italy in Dublin. England started out by beating Wales comfortably and then the hoped for Grand Slam that numerous pundits said would come this year under Borthwick came a cropper with the defeat to Scotland.
England themselves were in search of a complete performance after the win over Wales and the loss in Murrayfield. They made slight alterations with Henry Pollock coming at number 8 with Ben Earl moving into the 7 jersey. Ollie Lawrence came in at 13 with Tommy Freeman moving onto the right wing in place of Tom Roebuck.
England had picked players in form at club level but they just could not live with Ireland from the start and were playing catch up. Steve Borthwick has a serious job on his hands trying to motivate his charges with a trip to Rome to come before facing France on the final weekend.
As I mention, England were tipped by many to not alone win the Championship but also complete the Grand Slam unfortunately neither wish will come through in 2026.
They will have a tough end to the campaign with a trip to Rome on the horizon before ending the Championship against France who are still on course for another Grand Slam after a win over Italy in Lille yesterday.
You can sure, England won’t get it easy in the final two rounds as they search for answers as well as victories to end the Championship. The post mortem will start afterwards but yet again England’s over confidence has come back to bite them in spectacular fashion.
They were expected to challenge France but instead as of now they could be fighting with Wales for the wooden spoon if they lose either of the last 2 games, unthinkable a few weeks ago but that is the reality facing England.
Ireland for their part had told us they were not too far from clicking and they did so in spectacular fashion on Saturday afternoon putting England to the sword by beating them by a record margin. This is one of the best performances since the Championship was last won by Ireland in 2024.
So many players who had several questions asked of them in the build-up answered them in dramatic fashion.
The questions that surround the Ireland 10 shirt continue but Jack Crowley certainly put in a strong showing in both defence and attack as he kept them ticking over and putting in his tackles when asked to do so.
Stuart Mc Closkey showed his quality as did Robert Baloucoune, both men picked on form having strong seasons for Ulster in the URC and the Challenge Cup. The whole 23 put their best foot forward and showed quality in the set piece and in defence. The defence on show was right from the top drawer and helped Ireland weather a few storms when England threatened to burst through. The discipline that has been lacking at key moments over the past year certainly improved over the 80 minutes on Saturday.
The win and manner of it will certainly have boosted the confidence of the squad who now go into the down week in the 6 Nations in good form. Some squad members will be released to play in the URC next weekend and get valuable game time before they return to the Irish camp to start preparations for Wales at home on Friday March 6th.
Here is my 23 to face Wales
15 Jamie Osbourne
14 Robert Baloucoune
13 Tom Farrell
12 Stuart Mc Closkey
11 Tommy O Brien
10 Jack Crowley
9 Jamison Gibson Park
8 Bryn Ward
7 Nick Timoney
6 Cian Prendergast
5 James Ryan
4 Edwin Edogbo
3 Thomas Clarkson
2 Ronan Kelleher
1 Michael Milne
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16 Dan Sheehan
17 Jeremey Loughman
18 Finlay Bealham
19 Cormac Izuchkwu
20 Jack Conan
21 Nathan Doak
22 Ciaran Frawley
23 James Lowe