Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Mack Hansen, Keith Earls score tries - the latter on occasion of his 100th Test cap - as Ireland beat England at Aviva Stadium in RWC warm-up; Visitors see No 8 Billy Vunipola red-carded for high tackle, as England shown fifth card in two Tests
Sunday 20 August 2023 07:18, UK
Ireland secured a 29-10 Rugby World Cup warm-up victory over England in Dublin, as a Billy Vunipola red card saw the visitors handed their fifth card in two games.
After last week saw England receive three yellow cards and a red card to skipper Owen Farrell against Wales, No 8 Vunipola was dismissed in Dublin for a shoulder-to-head tackle on prop Andrew Porter, which saw him make no attempt to wrap his arm. He is now likely to face a ban which will see him miss some of the World Cup in France.
Vunipola, like club team-mate Farrell, will now face a disciplinary panel before England's World Cup opening fixture against Argentina on September 9.
Ireland, who made a host of uncharacteristic errors before the red card, scored tries through centres Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose, wings James Lowe and Mack Hansen, and replacement Keith Earls on his emotional 100th Test cap.
All Steve Borthwick's England could muster was an early George Ford penalty and a late Kyle Sinckler try, while in terms of injuries, Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan departed with a first-half foot complaint, which will require further investigation.
In the fifth minute, England's matchwinner last week Ford kicked the visitors into the lead off the tee after Tadhg Beirne had been penalised at the breakdown.
Ireland hit back less than five minutes later with the opening try of the Test through a gorgeous move, as Josh van der Flier sent back-row colleague Peter O'Mahony sprinting into space, before the latter passed inside to Aki in support, for the centre to race in.
Ireland's 23-year-old back-row Cian Prendergast was ripped of possession off his return carry in his own 22 following the restart, but made up for it with a superb breakdown penalty win, as Ireland exited a dangerous situation.
After a lull in the game largely taken up by reset scrums, the bright Hansen sparked Ireland's next chance in the 22 with a pacy, mazy run, but it came to nothing as skipper James Ryan was pinged for obstruction at a maul.
An impactful Manu Tuilagi bust through Ross Byrne paved the way for England's next penalty, as Hansen was caught on the wrong side of a ruck with Ireland slightly stretched, but Ford poorly sliced wide off the tee.
A Beirne-led counter-ruck earned Ireland their next turnover, forcing Vunipola to enter a ruck from the side, but the territory came to nothing when Sheehan overthrew a lineout, and full-back Hugo Keenan then kicked out on the full.
James Lowe sealed off at a ruck the next time Ireland were attacking in the England half, as the home side continued to make mistakes themselves, but the visitors failed to make the most of a great attacking chance when Ryan was penalised at a lineout, as Ford missed touch with his kick to the corner, and Vunipola then knocked on Lowe's clearance kick under no pressure.
Ireland took ruthless advantage a minute before the break, as Ringrose took in a stunning Hansen kick-pass, before stepping inside Freddie Steward and handing off Elliot Daly to finish, after Lowe (offload) and O'Mahony (carry for big metres out wide) had done great work in the lead-up.
Byrne missed the conversion to leave Ireland 12-3 ahead at the break, but England emerged with a noticeably increased tempo, only for their opening attack to come to nothing when Ford knocked on a Ben Youngs pass to him which did arrive too low.
Ireland replacement hooker Rob Herring forced a penalty just outside the 22 for the next big chance, but Ireland's driving maul again came to nothing, as England wrapped it up to force a scrum.
A scrum penalty won by Ireland against the head granted them another chance at an attacking lineout drive, but Herring was then penalised for a crooked throw-in, to much frustration.
Vunipola was then sent from the field for his tackle on Porter, which saw the powerful No 8 smash into the Ireland prop's head with his right shoulder, and crucially fail to make any attempt to wrap his right arm, rendering his action always illegal and so an inevitable red card.
Less than two minutes later, Ireland immediately took advantage after playing at pace, as Lowe had the simple task of touching down for a try out wide off a long Byrne pass, after the Ireland wing had butchered an earlier potential try chance in the move on the opposite flank for Hansen, failing to pass.
Earls soon emerged to a deafening reception for his 100th cap, and before long, Hansen was in for Ireland's fourth try as another long Byrne pass after a wealth of pressure saw the wing skip past a flat-footed Steward and dive over.
A mix-up between Ireland replacement half-backs Conor Murray and Jack Crowley presented England a scrum to attack from deep in the 22, from which replacement tighthead Sinckler dipped to score from close-range with eight minutes to play.
Ireland had the final say, however, as Earls took a long Aki pass over his head, and still showed searing pace in his 35-year-old legs, before diving and flipping over in the corner to an ecstatic reaction from his teammates and the home support.
England head coach Borthwick said: "It's going to be another week of disruption. We knew that was coming already [with Owen Farrell's hearing on Tuesday], it's now been amplified by the situation with Billy.
"One of the things is control what we can control and with 15 men on the pitch there was a tightness in that game, but when we went to 14 men against Ireland we certainly struggled.
"We've got the players and if we get possession in the opposition half, we need to take our chances to score points. That's clearly what we need to work exceptionally hard on.
"Right now, I feel the same as every English fan feels - disappointed with the result and disappointed with the feeling of a lack of progress in the areas we want to, and obviously going to 14 men again.
"We spoke before the game, you want to be at 15 men and you've got to be at 15 men. There will be a lot of things to take way from this and clearly, we need to go through the process with Billy Vunipola."
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said: "We were a little bit rusty in the first 40 and England had a lot to do with that. We all know England's lineout defence is very good and we couldn't get our rhythm in that regard.
"But I'm really proud of how we found that rhythm back, certainly with the lineout. We found our rhythm in the second half and played some good stuff."
England next host Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday, August 26, in their final Rugby World Cup warm-up clash, before heading to France. They face Argentina in Marseille on Saturday, September 9 in their World Cup opener.
Ireland travel to face Samoa in Bayonne on Saturday, August 26, for their final World Cup warm-up clash. They face Romania in Bordeaux on Saturday, September 9 in their opening World Cup fixture.