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England hammer Ireland despite scrappy peformance in Cork

By PA
Sarah Bern of England is challenged by Anna McGann of Ireland during the TikTok Women's Six Nations match between Ireland and England at Musgrave Park on April 22, 2023 in Cork, Ireland. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

England maintained their Grand Slam collision course with France through a 48-0 victory over Ireland in Cork but a scrappy performance took the shine off the afternoon.

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Simon Middleton’s side had banked the bonus point in a first half that produced tries for Sarah Beckett, Tatyana Heard, Ellie Kildunne, Marlie Packer and Morwena Talling, but they lost their way after the interval.

Ireland were emphatically beaten by Wales, France and Italy in the previous rounds but they made life difficult for England until falling away in the final 10 minutes at Musgrave Park.

The hosts’ set-piece was overwhelmed, yet they became the first team in the 2023 TikTok Six Nations to prevent the Red Roses from breaching the 50-point mark.

It took until the 71st minute to break the second-half stalemate when Amber Reed burrowed over from close range as pre-match fears of a 100-point mauling failed to materialise.

Number eight Alex Matthews added two late tries as a build-up of pressure in the final 10 minutes took its toll on the home defence.

For all the shortcomings evident in the penultimate round, England still made it four maximum five-point hauls as they secured a 23rd successive win the tournament.

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Only France – who play Wales in Grenoble on Sunday – can stop the World Cup runners-up from clinching a fifth consecutive Six Nations title.

The victory came at a cost, however, with captain Packer and prop Hannah Botterman limping off through injury in the first half.

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JW 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson explains the new halves pairing for the All Blacks ahead of France

More indecision and excuses from Razor.


You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.


Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.


I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.


Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.


With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.

13 Go to comments
F
Flankly 1 hour ago
Jake White: If I was England coach, I’d have been livid

I am not an England fan, but still very disappointed at what Borthwick is serving up. Regardless of winning or losing, they should be executing the basics at a world class level. That was the reason they replaced Eddie with Steve. After two years England has not built the solid foundations that the RFU were presumably after. Its hard to see it as anything other than a coaching problem.


Having said that I really hope that Rassie has got his team fired up for the game. The Boks at maximum intensity and with no crises (eg red cards) would be expected to win this game. But it does not take much reduction in pressure for Bok teams to lose. The Boks lose when complacency sets in.


On Felix Jones, my guess is that they can't agree on a non-compete so they kept him on payroll for the duration of the Nov tests. The risk was that he would be hired by Rassie or Razor prior to the tests.


As relates to law tweaking, it feels like WR are more comfortable discussing changes in laws than insisting on implementation. For my money the biggest thing they could do is to be strict and consistent in officiating ruck behavior. In every game we see flopping, lazy lying, clearing of unbound players, making plays while off your feet, delays in placing the ball, side entry, offside line infringements, and similar nonsense. It's really really bad, and the WR attitude seems to be that we should turn a blind eye in pursuit of "flowing rugby". In truth it's just boring, because it randomizes the outcome.

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