It was Ireland's Croke Park party and England were the possible gatecrashers, but the Irish sent the English crashing to earth with a 43-13 humiliation at Croke Party on Saturday.
The Irish put on a show of intensity not seen since New Zealand's infamous victory over France in November 2004, and the English were powerless to prevent the green tide that washed over them, leaving few survivors in its wake.
History was made in Dublin on a rainy, rainy day. The rain was nothing out of the ordinary but playing the foreign game in the temple of the GAA was. And there was more. Ireland did not just win the match. They set a new record, their biggest ever defeat over England, the 30-point margin surpassing the 22-0 of 60 years ago.
The Soldier's Song and Ireland's Call and Athenry never sounded sop glorious as it did when over 70 000 Irishmen sang it at Croke Park.
The most ardent of GAA men must have raised a glass in satisfaction for what Brian O'Driscoll and his men did.
England started off well enough and then the rest of the match belonged to Ireland. It started up front where they disrupted the English line-out where the only stability was provided by Martin Corry, and they destroyed the England scrum, especially in the period when Danny Grewcock was watching from the sin bin while Ireland scored 14 points. His side really suffered while he, not for the first time, was off the field.
With the tights on top the Irish loose forwards overshadowed their English counterparts. Each one of the Irish loose trio had an effective game.
It was a match of intense collision at every tackle. The players' concentration was absolute.
Then the Irish backs were superior. Ronan O'Gara had a much bigger effect on the game than ball-starved Jonny Wilkinson, and outside of that there was no contest. The Irish centres were much better. The Irish wings were much better than the English wings and the Irish fullback did far more than the English full-backs. In fact the England back three were largely anonymous, except for three moments from newcomer David Strettle.
The Irish backs seemed able to ignore the wet and their first try was the result of daring passing in the wet.
The score was 9-3 to Ireland at the time. They had their best chance to score when Simon Easterby had a great run. They were close to the line when Grewcock was, to say the least, impetuous and went off to think about his life.
Their try came after they had battered from a maul and were right at the line. Back it came and Peter Stringer fired his impeccable service to the right. Gordon D'Arcy flicked a pass on. Bian O'Driscoll picked up the low ball and gave a perfect pass to Girvan Dempsey who scored with Shane Horgan unused on his outside. O'Gara converted. 16-9.
By this time Ireland were well and truly on top.
They came close soon afterwards when Horgan cut back on a long sharp runt. Mat Tait saved England with a brave tackle and then as Ireland continued to threaten George Chuter saved with a tackle on Paul O'Connell, who lost the ball forward. Five-metre scrum to England. Ireland destroyed the England scrum and got a five-metre scrum of their own on the right. They went blind and TMO Romain Poite was able to confirm "un essai pour les Verts". O'Gara converted.
England kicked off and seemed filled with wild determination but it fizzled out.
Grewcock returned 14 points later.
Ireland started the second half well and had England rattled but the visitors rallied and had their best passage of play in the match, crowned by an excellent try by Strettle in the corner as two Irishmen tried to get to him. Wilkinson goaled from touch. 26-10 to Ireland after 47 minutes.
Wilkinson tried a penalty from the half-way line when O'Connell was penalised for "crossing" but he was short. Leamy was penalised shortly afterwards at a tackle and Wilkinson made no mistake with the easier kick, cancelled out two minutes later when Phil Vickery was penalised at a scrum. 29-13 after 57 minutes.
O'Driscoll was over in the left corner but Mike Tindall held up O'Driscoll. That gave Ireland a five-metre scrum on their left. Leamy charged off on a diagonal going right and then the ball came back to O'Gara who exquisitely, breathtakingly, stabbed a long diagonal which Horgan plucked out of the air, falling to ground for a wonderful try, which, ineluctably, O'Gara converted. 36-13 with 14 minutes to play.
Ireland had good moments when Denis Hickie counter-attacked, when O'Driscoll intercepted, and when only a horrible bounce denied David Wallace a try.
Ireland sent all the troops from the bench to savour the history of the moment and one of them delighted the whole of Ireland. England got the ball from a scrum in midfield. Shaun Perry went right, changed his mind and threw a long pass to his left, which Isaac Boss intercepted and off he raced some 40 metres towards Hill 16 for a try at the posts.
When Paddy Wallace kicked the last penalty out and the final whistle went, great jubilation erupted into the Dublin night.
Man of the Match: There were lots of Irish candidates from Girvan Dempsey to skilful Marcus Horan. Perhaps the halves deserved it a bit more. Perhaps the loose trio also deserved special mention but the man who seemed the king of that Dublin night, the great Irish champion, was our Man of the Match, Paul O'Connell who competed for everything at line-outs and at the tackle and in the scrums -- a worthy combatant.
Moment of the Match: Shane Horgan's try. It would have delighted the hearts of every Gaelic Football man -- that pinpoint punt across the field, the tall man reaching up to pluck the ball out of the sky, the try. It was a score fitting of Croke Park.
Villain of the Match: Danny Grewcock -- but we doubt he will learn.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: Dempsey, Wallace, Horgan, Boss
Cons: O'Gara 4
Pens: O'Gara 5
For England:
Try: Strettle
Con: Wilkinson
Pens: Wilkinson 2
Yellow card: Grewcock (28, England, deliberate offside)
Ireland: Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Denis Hickie, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer/ Isaac Boss, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Simon Best, 18 Neil Best, 19 Mick O'Driscoll, 20 Isaac Boss/ Eoin Reddan, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Andrew Trimble.
England: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Josh Lewsey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Andy Farrell, 11 David Strettle, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Martin Corry, 7 Magnus Lund, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Phil Vickery (captain), 2 George Chuter, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Tom Rees, 20 Shaun Perry, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mat Tait
Referee: Joël Jutge (France)
Touch judges: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales), Christophe Berdos (France)
Television match official: Romain Poite (France)
Assessor: Steve Hilditch (Ireland)
