England scored eight tries to thrash Ireland 57-15 in Saturday’s World Cup warm-up Test at Twickenham.
Photo Copyright Steve Haag Sport Hollywoodbets
The game was the host’s penultimate before they jettison off to Japan, with a match against Italy to come in a fortnight.
Ireland must still negotiate two Tests against Wales before the global showpiece, the side they could have leapfrogged into first place on the world rankings with victory in London.
Joe Schmidt’s men will need a massive improvement if they are to bounce back from this dismal performance, with their confidence dangerously low just weeks out from the World Cup.
Eddie Jones on the other hand, will be thrilled with the way his side played on their way to racking up their highest score and largest-ever winning margin over their Celtic foes.
After conceding the opening try in the first-half, England hit back powerfully to assume control of the contest.
Mario Itoje was a constant menace at the lineout, continually disrupting Irish ball, while some poor reads on defence by the visitors enabled England to take a commanding 22-10 lead into the break.
The 2003 world champions went up a gear in the second-half to batter their opponents into submission, scoring five more tries in the process.
Jordan Larmour had made the most of a chip through from wing partner Jacob Stockdale to put his side ahead after Owen Farrell had bisected the poles with a penalty early on.
Joe Cokanasiga finished off a handsome backline play for England, before further first-half tries to Elliot Daly and Manu Tuilagi set their side well on course for victory.
Following another Ireland lineout malfunction, Itoje took a terrific line to score under the poles before George Kruis, Tom Curry, Cokanasiga and Luke Cowan-Dickie completed the rout.
Bundee Aki managed a good consolation effort for Ireland, but it came far too late.
England
Tries: Cokanasiga (2), Daly, Tuilagi, Itoje, Kruis, Curry, Cowan-Dickie
Cons: Farrell (6), Ford
Pens: Farrell
Yellow card: Kruis
Ireland
Tries: Larmour, Aki
Cons: Byrne
Pen: Byrne
England – 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler. Subs: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Jonathan Joseph.
Ireland – 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Gary Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Connor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Jean Kleyn, 4 Ian Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Cian Healy.
Subs: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Andrew Conway.
