FOR 50 MINUTES England led in Dublin. The visitors started well without taking full advantage, before fading in the second half as Ireland finished on top to win 27-22.
Much of that was down a massive effort off the Ireland bench, with Dan Sheehan, Jack Conan and Jack Crowley in particular adding momentum to Ireland’s second-half surge.
It all meant England manager Steve Borthwick was left picking through the bones of an eighth defeat in 13 games. Borthwick saw the strength of the Ireland bench as a point of difference between the teams, highlighting Crowley’s introduction as a key part in his team’s downfall.
“I think it was certainly a factor. The change at ‘10’ was pretty significant,” Borthwick said.
“I thought he (Crowley) played really well when he came on there in that final part of the game.
“They have got quality in their team. I was looking at the teams beforehand and on their bench I think they had almost as many caps as we had in our whole 23.
“I was looking at it going, this is going to be a test for us and ultimately we came up short, and I am really disappointed we came up short because I thought we could come here and win the game.
“I think our players gave that a go, you certainly saw a belief that they could come here and win the game, and we didn’t, so we will ensure that we are a better team next week against France back at Twickenham, back at Allianz Stadium.”
Not for the first time over the last 12 months, England came out of a tight battle on the wrong side of the result. Borthwick took pride in how his team started in Dublin and how they hung in swoop for two late tries.
Ultimately, the England boss felt Ireland’s greater experience was telling.
“If you look at today’s game, which I think is the important thing as we are sat here, you see two different teams,” he said.
“You see an Ireland team that has been together for such a huge amount of time, (they have) nearly 1,200 caps. And you see an England team that has been building over the last six months, and we have just over half that number of caps.
“If you watched the start of the game, you’d be saying you don’t see that difference, you see an England team that wants to play aggressive with the ball, wants to move the ball, and I think we took a step forward in that attack.
“I think the defence improved but we want to win every game and we didn’t today, and we are disappointed by that. I think there are elements we will take and build that will show the progress of this team over the last 10 days in the training camp.
“You see how long Ireland have been in the top four rankings in the world, so long, and that experience told in the third quarter, where I thought tactically they played really well.
“That allowed them to get the scoreboard pressure that we couldn’t claw back.”
A ref and 2 umpires unable to spot Walsh spinning 4 times without a hop of a ball for the second goal. Shambolic officiating that’s basic rules they’re missing and it’s looking like it’s killed the tie.
Ah stop jack. Take off those blinkers.. Kerry were up by seven at the time… Game was gone from Roscommon at that stage… Roscommon are just out of their depth….
Blinkers? When when have Mayo and Ros got on? And I bet you thought the same in Killarney. There’s a stiff breeze at Roscommon’s back but the second goal standing out it beyond then whereas 4-5 down they had a chance.
They were up by 5 mate. 1-6 0-4. Should have been disallowed. Sure they want the dream final after all
Well eamon, at least the rossies can keep on dreaming… Just not even nearly good enough to mix it with the big boys…
Jaysus, Roscommon are pi$$ poor…
Com’n Kerry
I’d say most neutrals would want Roscommon to win today or in fact anyone apart from Kerry people
I’d rather a strong Kerry as they have a chance of running the Dubs close at the end of the year, Roscommon don’t have that chance
Hon the Kingdom
Rossie Keeper is a lucky man to escape a black card.
Nothing new with Kerry getting soft frees .
of course ye ever get soft frees
never even
Ref is a joke so far some really soft frees to kerry!!
Such as? Funny how the frees are soft when Kerry are getting them
Very soft frees on both sides.
Big game for both. Will go a long way in preparation for the championship
Walsh took 10 steps before he scored the 2nd goal. Good man ref.
Darren o Sullivan was dragged down before he scored his goal and there should have been a black card for the Roscommon keeper, or did you miss that?
Walsh took too many step, should have been a free out alright. Roscommon keeper should have seen black. He’s giving the same ‘soft’ frees to both teams for fairly minor pulling and dragging but he’s being consistent. Kerry getting more of them because they are the ones running at roscommon from inside the 40. Kerry by far the better team with or without Walsh’s goal
Ros’s first time out in Croker against a top 3 team and they went man to man. madness. McStay should know better he’s railed Mayo for exposing our full back line for years, easy be a hurler on the ditch however.
kerry are just reaffirming they are the second best team in the country.
Jaysus, kerry playing fierce dirty, foul, foul, foul, #
Nice boys get nice girls, nice boys don’t won’t all Ireland’s …. Think they’re up by 10pts…. Foul foul foul must be the way to go
Arrah if you took the goals outta it….
Roscommon are suffering from stage fright or just no good?but on this form kerry will hammer Dublin in the final!!.
I hope Donegal have more ambition up front today, lady game against Dublin was horrible. They had been very adventurous in the 3 games they won then reverted back to type. I know they can’t open up against Dublin as they might be in danger of taking a hammering. Still, I’d like to see them come out of their shell a bit. Good luck to all team involved.
How are they doing that paul???