Bowe shoots down England

England's Grand Slam dreams were washed away at a wet Twickenham as Ireland clinched a 20-16 win thanks to a late try from Tommy Bowe.

The winger's second try of the afternoon with just six minutes left to play kept alive Irish hopes of retaining their trophy, as well as sealing a Triple Crown.

A try from prop Dan Cole and a drop goal from Jonny Wilkinson, who kicked 11 points, had put England 16-13 ahead in the closing minutes.

However the home side's hopes of starting a Six Nations campaign with three straight victories for the first time since 2003 were dashed right at the death.

Cutting edge

Dominant in possession but lacking a cutting edge, Martin Johnson's side huffed and puffed without ever looking likely of blowing the Irish house down.

Perhaps England should have known that it wasn't going to be their day from the moment Wilkinson's opening kick-off dribbled no more than 10 metres.

In contrast the visitors made sure they capitalised on every chance that came their way - starting inside four minutes when turnover ball led to Bowe breaking the deadlock.

With England horribly exposed out wide, Jonathan Sexton straightened the line of attack before putting in a well-weighted grubber kick to the right corner that allowed the flying number 14 to race around Lewis Moody and score.

Sexton, preferred to Ronan O'Gara at stand-off, missed the conversion attempt and also fell short with a penalty, though he did add three more points from bang in front.

Wilkinson - heavily criticised following a bad afternoon in Rome last time out - kept ball in hand more often but was still making his most telling contributions with the boot.

After missing his first shot at the posts, the number 10 slotted over his second penalty kick right before the heavens opened, giving both sets of players an excuse for the high number of handling errors.

A further three from Wilkinson made it 8-6 at the end of the half, and with both fly-halves missing further shots at goal from distance, that score remained the same through to the crucial moment in the match at the 54-minute mark.

Despite seeing his side awarded a penalty, England scrum-half Danny Care decided to take the law into his own hands when Tomas O'Leary refused to release the ball.

His judo-style throw on his fellow number nine saw tempers flare between the pair, while flankers James Haskell and Stephen Ferris also got up close and personal.

Overturned decision

Care's indiscretion forced referee Mark Lawrence to overturn his original decision - allowing the Irish to kick deep, catch and drive down the middle then work the ball down the blindside from the breakdown for winger Keith Earls to dive over.

England responded to conceding through Cole, the Leicester forward getting the nod from the TMO after being driven over next to the posts by his friends in the pack.

Wilkinson knocked over the conversion with his left foot to level matters at 13 apiece and when he used his right to good effect with a drop goal, the hosts were ahead for the very first time in the match with time fast running out.

Ireland lost talismanic skipper Brian O'Driscoll to a head injury suffered when he collided with Paul O'Connell's right knee, though the lock made an even bigger impact with the ball when his catch from a line-out led to Bowe's winner.

O'Leary accepted his Munster colleague's knock-back before putting Bowe through a huge gap in Wilkinson's inside channel.

The try was converted by replacement Ronan O'Gara and despite phase-after-phase of possession England came up empty handed, leaving the Irish singing in the rain.