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England player ratings: England came to Dublin favourites to make it five wins from five against the Irish and exit the Guinness Six Nations on a high, and it looked like it was heading that way after a bright start.
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But Ireland had other ideas.
32-18 ?? #SixNationsRugby pic.twitter.com/w0eZRDjmRg
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS
15. ELLIOT DALY – 5
His first touch was a scuffed kick into touch, hardly an ideal start. Beaten in the air by the remarkable Hugo Keenan in the lead-up to Conan’s try. MIA for Earl’s disallowed try just after halftime but was saved by a knock-on in the lead-up. A couple of decent attacking moments with ball in hand.
14. ANTHONY WATSON – 5
Couldn’t back up his superb outing against France and to be fair had basically no opportunity to do so today. Starved of ball, the game passed him by.
13. OLLIE LAWRENCE – 6
The late call-up must have been quite the shock to Lawrence, who has been criminally underused by Eddie Jones to date. Again, a frustrating performance to rate as he simply didn’t get any ball.
12. OWEN FARRELL – 5.5
Clearly pumped up in what was a bright start for England, but was left to little other than marginal contributions after that. His problematic tackle technique reared its head again and saw him HIA’d in the 55th minute and he came off second best in a collision with Iain Henderson. Didn’t return.
What a half for Ireland ? #IREvENG pic.twitter.com/9VAZwTSDGA
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
11. JONNY MAY – 6
Left flat-footed and red-faced by a brilliant Keith Earls step in the 23rd minute. Did well to finish England’s last-ditch effort, giving the scoreboard a bit of spit and polish.
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10. GEORGE FORD – 5.5
Kicked exceptionally well from hand but his backs didn’t see any ball despite a promising opening stanza. Too many individual errors.
9. BEN YOUNGS – 6
The mixed bag kicking from the base. Took the game by the scruff single-handedly to score quickly for England after Aki’s red.
1. MAKO VUNIPOLA – 3
A below-par performance for one of the world’s premier looseheads. Lucky to get away with just a penalty for a neck roll clearance and conceded a number of penalties at scrum time. Was removed at halftime.
2. LUKE COWAN-DICKIE – 6
Took a knock in the 25th minute, and didn’t return after half-time. Was solid up and positive until that point.
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3. KYLE SINCKLER – 5
Understandably miffed to concede a soft penalty call for early engagement. While it was largely Mako’s side of the scrum that was causing issues for England, Cian Healy had the Bristol’s man number in the second-half.
4. MARO ITOJE – 6
Was everywhere in the opening exchanges, scrambling and scrapping for everything. Was unusually quiet in the second-half, leaving it to Ireland to celebrating every micro-victory, and there were plenty.
5. CHARLIE EWELS – 6
Presented himself as a carrying option and showed some deft passing skills on more than one occasion.
6. MARK WILSON – 6
Wilson’s typical workhorse shift, but England needed more than hard work today. A doughty player no doubt, but you imagine the Newcastle man’s days in an England jersey are surely numbered.
7. TOM CURRY – 6
Industrious in the loose but was kept in check for large parts of the game by a dominant Irish pack. Still he managed to eke out plenty of metreage against the run of play.
8. BILLY VUNIPOLA – 5
A ding dong battle with the retiring CJ Stander, who was playing his last match for Ireland. The Munsterman had the whip hand in this encounter, leaving the Saracen to get increasingly frustrated as the game wore on. Must be sweating his Lions place.
REPLACEMENTS
16. JAMIE GEORGE – 6
Plenty of positive contributions after replacing LCD in the second-half, Youngs’ try in particular. Has been unfairly scapegoated in this tournament.
17. ELLIS GENGE – 6
It was telling that England’s scrum didn’t improve greatly with Genge on. He did at least at plenty add plenty with ball-in-hand.
