Ireland get into the groove as England suffer

Ireland’s ability to find a rhythm that had been a constant throughout the entire previous autumn was only the result of one game of their 2025 Six Nations campaign.

After falling apart in their November opener, Ireland felt as though they had lost their way despite victories against Argentina, Fiji, and Australia that had left them in a somber state.

Mistakes felt contagious as the harder Andy Farrell’s side tried to turn things around, the more they seemed to struggle.

In their 27-22 victory over England on Saturday, in contrast, the most pleasing aspect of a marked turnaround by the home side was their ability to problem-solve in real time.

Handed a blockbuster fixture to kick off their championship, Ireland started and finished poorly.

However, interim head coach Simon Easterby’s team was so far ahead of them that the visitors had a bad feeling about their five-point advantage.

Easterby’s side struggled to understand an English plan that was meant to slow down their ball and derail their attacking rhythm in the first half of the Test match.

Few at the time would have predicted that they would lead by 17 points going into the final stages.

Easterby, who has stepped in while Andy Farrell spends a lot of his year serving on British and Irish Lions duty, said, “We kicked on.”

He was referring to the 35-minute stretch that left Ireland with 22 unanswered Irish points right after half-time.

Perhaps not since before Joe Schmidt first pitched up in Dublin 15 years ago, when Leinster started playing for the national side like 11 of Ireland’s starting team did in their provincial careers.

At first glance, at least, it appeared as though switching from blue to green would shock the system once more.

Before his short-term promotion, Easterby served as Ireland’s defensive specialist. He couldn’t have anticipated the gaps in Cadan Murley’s debut try to give the Red Roses a deserved lead across the Aviva Stadium pitch.

That is not to dismiss England’s contribution to Ireland’s early struggles.

The hosts’ breakdown was hampered by Steve Borthwick’s plan to use three fetchers in his back row, and England’s quick defense speed contributed to the errors that led to a number of promising attacks coming to abrupt conclusions.

“The first half felt like the first round of a Six Nations, which is always tough”, said Easterby, whose side trailed 10-5 at the break.

“There’s so much at stake. Everyone has a lot of energy&nbsp, and enthusiasm.

Ireland slowly worked its way through the gears before finally cruising speed as they frequently did throughout the autumn as they frequently did.

The men in green were beginning to understand the situation before the turn, helped by Marcus Smith’s yellow card, but only in the second half did they truly appear to be the two-time champions of this competition.

Borthwick of England said it was difficult to quantify how much effort was put into disqualifying Ireland in the opening half, but as their challenge faded, Ireland’s energy levels only appeared to rise.

England got little from their six-two bench as Ireland’s replacements turned the game in the home team’s favour.

With the benefit of forward depth, which meant that back rower Jack Conan and previous year’s skipper Peter O’Mahony could only start the Irish 23, Easterby was able to use two players who had missed the previous two games, hooker Dan Sheehan and back row Jack Conan, to replace them.

Both started well after the 50th minute, highlighting a strong bench effort.

“I thought the guys that started built a really solid foundation,” she said. It was tough at times, “said Easterby.

The work that was done in the opening 50 and 55 minutes was beneficial to the benchmen who came off the bench.

“To be fair, the guys that came off the bench were brilliant, they really impacted the game”.

Easterby will be confounded by the two late tries conceded to England that result in a losing bonus point.

With Tadhg Furlong already struggling with a calf complaint and Tom O’Toole suspended, Ireland could travel to Murrayfield next week with their fourth and fifth choice tight-heads, just like Finlay Bealham’s injury, which means.

Of course, Ireland are currently winning 10 games against Scotland, and they needed flanker Josh van der Flier to join them in the line-outs with prop Cian Healy scrommaging at hooker to still come out on top when they last visited Edinburgh two years ago.

The Six Nations is frequently described as a tournament with the highest priority for momentum.