Six Nations title still in Irish hands but England serve notice of new relationship

That right-hand side of Ireland’s line had felt the tip of the spear, Calvin Nash succumbing to injury early on as Ollie Lawrence claimed the game’s first try. His replacement Ciarán Frawley was down that flank when Lawrence had another ruled out.

Somehow, some way, Ireland found their way to the 37th-minute not just with their hopes of another Slam still intact but with a one-point lead. This was a moment that called for cool heads and calmness all round. A moment to still the madness around them.

They drew together in a huddle prior to the scrum and all 15 players took a deep, collective breath. Literally. Eyes closed, chests heaved. Great big gulps of chilly London air were sucked in and exhaled deliberately and with purpose.

Donal Lenihan on co-comms ventured that Ireland would have welcomed the break as they hunkered down for that setpiece, but there were crucial gains to be made and they found them as Furbank stepped into touch while gathering a missile of a kick from James Lowe.

A lineout, a few phases and an English offside later and Jack Crowley popped over a fourth penalty in the period’s last action. This was their smallest interval lead in the 2024 Six Nations and it felt like the biggest of wins on the balance of play.

The ability to land a blow of that nature and at that time was reminiscent of the habit Joe Schmidt’s Ireland had displayed in 2018, not least in Twickenham when Jacob Stockdale’s try in first-half injury time had broken the contest’s back.

The second-half had hardly started here and Ireland were following it up with their first try from Lowe, a superbly executed flow of a score that originated with Hugo Keenan claiming a ball he had no right to climb from the darkening skies.

Nine points up, a stadium stilled, beachhead secured. Job done? If only.

This is the point where we stress that the better side won. England brought a performance that hadn’t been witnessed by them in years. They made this one uncomfortable for the favourites from the opening minute and they stuck at it all day.

Marcus Smith’s winning drop goal came after 81 minutes and 19 seconds. They could have lost faith after taking that one-two combination either side of the break. They could have taken the hint when Lowe put Ireland ahead again with seven minutes to go.

They didn’t. Fair dues. The Championship and the game of rugby is better for a strong England but Ireland will be sickened at the spell between those two Lowe tries when so much went wrong for them and historic back-to-back Slams were lost.

There was bad luck in there, Frawley going off with a head knock and Jamison Gibson-Park switching to the wing as Conor Murray slotted in at scrum-half. Two tries were conceded in the exchanges after an Irishman was concussed.

And still. That spell… They coughed up ball three times in a row when in or threatening the English 22. They lost lineouts. They lost Peter O’Mahony to a yellow card. The vaunted green wall was undone twice for England’s second and third tries.

All that and more will eat away at them this week.

The World Cup loss to New Zealand was head-wrecking. The chance to go where no Irish team had gone before went astray to an All Black side that delivered one last force of will before coaches and a string of players moved on to pastures new.

This one may be more worrying in that sense. More menacing. England aren’t going anywhere and they sure as hell aren’t standing still by playing old-school rugby anymore either. This was their butterfly moment. They’re up and flying.

The hope has to be that this doesn’t mark one of those momentous shifts in the Anglo-Irish relationship. Like in 2019, when Schmidt’s Ireland was left ‘broken’ by the loss, or in 2021 when the Farrell era was launched with a breakthrough win against the old enemy.

Ireland should still see off a Scottish side stunned by their own defeat, to Italy in Rome, and clinch the Championship when they meet in Dublin next week. They are still an exceptional side that lost away from home to a superb English display by one point.

But the road ahead looks more challenging.