England Choke at Croke
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DUBLIN, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Ireland rose to the occasion for their first ever meeting with England at Croke Park on Saturday as they thrashed the world champions 43-13 and toppled a 60-year-old record for their biggest win over them in the process. Ireland dealt admirably with all the emotional baggage surrounding the match and, after a tight opening quarter, cut loose to record their fourth successive victory over the English.
The score topped their previous best 28-24 from 2004 and bettered the margin set in 1947 by a 22-0 victory.
Their four tries to the one of England were fair reward for their dominance. Flyhalf Ronan O'Gara made yet another sizeable contribution with a perfect goalkicking display with 21 points from five penalties and three conversions.
It was the ideal way to bounce back from the painful last-gasp defeat by France at the same stadium two weeks ago while for England it was a first, and worrying, defeat of the tournament.
"I think we were quite clinical and ruthless...coming up to halftime, when they had one man in the sin-bin, we punished them with two tries," said Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan, who added that the performance must rate "right up there" with Ireland's best. For his opposite number Brian Ashton the result produced an unenviable double. The man who coached England to their worst defeat against Ireland on Saturday was also in charge of Ireland when they suffered their worst defeat by England, 10 years ago.
"I don't feel embarrassed, I don't feel humiliated at all, no, I feel as though there's a hell of a lot of work to do," said Ashton, who said he had no idea why his side had been so physically overpowered on the day.
Despite some protests over the last week at the prospect of 'God Save the Queen' being played at a stadium where 14 people died after a raid by British-led troops in November 1920, the predominantly Irish crowd greeted it with applause.
Most of the 82,000 crowd then gave full voice to the two Irish anthems to create a spine-tingling atmosphere.
England did their best to deaden it when Jonny Wilkinson slotted an early penalty but it was to prove a rare high point for Brian Ashton's side.
With inspirational captain Brian O'Driscoll and scrumhalf Peter Stringer back after missing the France game through injury, Ireland kept calm and slowly took control.
Three penalties for O'Gara put them on top before the game was effectively settled in the last 10 minutes of the first half.
With England's bad-boy lock Danny Grewcock in the sin-bin Ireland bossed the lineout to score two tries, through Girvan Dempsey, after a piece of magic by O'Driscoll and David Wallace to earn a 23-3 halftime lead.
England threatened a comeback after the break with a try by debutant wing David Strettle and a Wilkinson penalty but Ireland responded by upping the pace further and England had no answers.
O'Gara used a kick across the English line to set up Shane Horgan up nicely for a third try in the 65th minute.
It was one-way traffic from then on and replacement scrumhalf Isaac Boss finished things off with an intercept try, converted by fellow sub Paddy Wallace.
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breaking...438273,00.html
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Originally Posted by cedric rainwater
