Robbie Henshaw’s first Test try kept alive defending Six Nations champions Ireland’s hopes of the Grand Slam on Sunday as Ireland beat England 19-9 at Lansdowne Road for a national record-equaling 10th success in a row.
The 21-year-old man of the match’s second-half try — allied to 14 points by Jonathan Sexton — ended a run of four successive defeats to England, whose own hopes of the Grand Slam disappeared with the defeat, and could see Ireland retain the trophy for the first time since 1948-1949.
Sexton landed a penalty in the third minute, pumping his arms in celebration on his way back to halfway to give the hosts early momentum.
Photo: Reuters
The Ireland flyhalf tested the England defense immediately afterwards with a delightful kick into the far corner and earned Ireland a scrum 5m from the line.
Hooker Rory Best looked to have gone over the line under the posts, but he was held up and from the subsequent scrum the hosts went close to the line again through Rob Kearney, but as a consolation earned a penalty which Sexton converted.
England steadied the ship when George Ford reduced the deficit with a drop-goal in the 12th minute, but he missed a chance to draw them level when a penalty drifted wide of the post after Jordi Murphy, who had come in for the injured Jamie Heaslip, had been penalized.
England won another penalty, but captain Chris Robshaw opted not to go for goal despite being within distance and paid the price as Devin Toner won the resulting lineout, allowing Ireland to clear the danger.
The visitors regained possession, but Ireland somehow managed to turn the ball over despite being down to 14 men as Sean O’Brien’s injury woes continued when he went down — he had to be replaced by Tommy O’Donnell after just 25 minutes.
O’Donnell was immediately in the thick of the action, burrowing away as Ireland entered the England 22, but the hosts came away with nothing as Peter O’Mahony was penalized for not releasing the ball.
However, back came Ireland and Sexton won them a penalty with a cracking tackle on Luther Burrell which earned him a pat on the shoulder from captain Paul O’Connell. The flyhalf duly slotted it over for 9-3 after 30 minutes.
Sexton was like a man possessed as he put in another extraordinary tackle on Ford and Anthony Watson conceded a penalty picking up the ball when offside. Sexton, though, sent his penalty just wide for Ireland’s first miss of the championship in 16 attempts.
He made no mistake when called upon the next time as he extended Ireland’s lead to 12-3 in the 48th minute.
The roar that greeted those points was nothing compared to the one when Henshaw outjumped Alex Goode to touch down from Conor Murray’s kick, Sexton converting beautifully from the sideline for 19-3.
However, that was it for Sexton as he had to go off with an apparent hamstring problem and was replaced by Ian Madigan.
Ford got England’s first points of the half on the board as the hour mark approached with a penalty to make it 19-6 and added another three points as the game neared the final 10 minutes, but Ireland held firm for a deserved win.
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