Ireland and England both opened their Six Nations with unconvincing victories on Saturday.
Defending champions Ireland showed only flashes of their best in a 29-11 win over Italy, while England took advantage of Wales’ indiscipline and survived a late scare before winning 30-17 at Twickenham.
Ireland failed to add tries to first-half efforts by Jamie Heaslip and Tomas O’Leary, and even handed Italy their only try of the game after an uncharacteristic error by Ireland fullback Rob Kearney.
PHOTO: AFP
Ireland also started slowly last season, before winning their first Grand Slam since 1948 and they share the early lead with an England side that marked the 100th anniversary of international rugby at Twickenham with three tries.
It was only with Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones off the field for a cynical trip on Dylan Hartley that England overcame a scrappy opening with two tries in less than 10 minutes either side of halftime.
James Haskell charged through a gap on the line for the first and Danny Care weaved through for the second. Adam Jones and James Hook brought a full-strength Wales side back to within three points of the home side, before Haskell touched down again to spark raucous celebrations from a home crowd starved of tries after just one in three matches in November.
England still have plenty of work to do to avoid embarrassment in what could be a challenging match in Italy next weekend.
Despite his try, Care made two big mistakes that could have cost points and England again gave away a string of needless penalties at the breakdown.
“There’s every chance there we could have folded and lost the game,” England manager Martin Johnson said. “So there’s lots and lots to improve. There’s no one getting carried away with that.”
There were still frustrated jeers at times from the Twickenham crowd at England’s habit of kicking from deep instead of running the ball, but the home side showed just enough enterprise to punish a side hampered by its misfiring lineout.
The match could have been far different had Hook not missed two penalties before handing over kicking duties to flyhalf Stephen Jones, who immediately leveled the scores at 3-3 after Jonny Wilkinson had given England a 12th-minute lead.
Wilkinson finished with 15 points after converting all three of England’s tries, the last of which hinged on an interception by Delon Armitage and a perfectly angled run and reverse offload by Mathew Tait.
Wales coach Warren Gatland said he may drop Alun-Wyn Jones for indiscipline.
“It was stupid what he did,” Gatland said. “It cost us the game.”
Johnson simply praised his players for earning points from the numerical advantage.
“We scored them. They didn’t give them to us, trust me,” Johnson said. “We’ve all been there and done silly things that have an influence on games. The good thing for us is that we turned the pressure into points.”
Ireland have to contend with problems at flyhalf as well as working on improving ahead of a match at tournament favorites France next weekend.
Ronan O’Gara kicked 16 points against Italy, but spent the last quarter on the bench with his thigh strapped. Replacement Paddy Wallace kicked Ireland’s final three points and, with Jonathan Sexton also out injured, may stay in the side at the Stade de France.
O’Gara became the first ever player to score 500 championship points, before Heaslip touched down following a slick move involving Andrew Trimble, Paul O’Connell and Kearney.
Former Australia rugby league international Craig Gower responded with the first of his two penalties, but Gonzalo Garcia was yellow carded for a spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll and O’Leary made use of the extra space to touch down.
Ireland looked set to rack up a convincing score, but their momentum was checked when Kaine Robertson charged down Kearney’s attempted clearance to touch down at the end of the first half.
Italy’s margin of defeat could have been even narrower had the Italians managed to round off a last-minute move engineered by brothers Mauro and Mirco Bergamasco. Italy could not breach the home defense and the move petered out with no one able to get on the end of Gower’s grubber kick.
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