England bounced back from their Edinburgh ills by recording a well-taken 33-10 win over Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday, with Danny Cipriani celebrating his first Test start by contributing 18 points.
The questions that linger after this match concern the coaches. Has Brian Ashton's skin been saved by his youthful troops?
Danny Cipriani delivered outstandingly, but Tom Croft and Michael Lipman should also get honourable mentions. Lesley Vainikolo pulled his weight, and James Haskell made a promising return from injury. It was a rare good day at the office for England rugby.
Has Eddie O'Sullivan's time finally come after eight years in Ireland's hot seat? His team started well enough, but no longer are they as physically dominant and controlled as in days of old. Of the youngsters coming through, only Luke Fitzgerald showed signs of maturing into a full international player, and the team still retained an air of staleness. We await the union inquests on both sides of the Irish sea with interest.
The game started with both teams displaying all the ordinariness of the weeks gone by. Fully two minutes at the start of the game consisted of poor quality kicks.
Then Ireland got a penalty and pushed it to touch. Then they got a free-kick at the line-out and opted to tap and spin the ball wide. Moments later Rob Kearney budged through a couple of tackles and scored. Ronan O'Gara converted and it was 0-7.
Worse still for the home team came moments later, with Iain Balshaw penalised for holding on and Ronan O'Gara punishing the infringement with a penalty. 0-10 after seven minutes, and the axe-wielders were sharpening their blades around the English coaching seats.
But Cipriani came good, as at last England produced some good quality ball. First a flat pass to Jamie Noon was batted on to send Nick Easter charging into the Irish 22. Then there was a neat little grubber to the corner. Then there was England's first points of the afternoon from the tee after Jamie Heaslip was caught going over the top. Then there were two whopping kicks from hand to gain his team 70 metres.
Cipriani's ebullience spread to his team-mates. Vainikolo got the ball in space and began to bounce people off his ridiculous thighs. The back-row began to get into the game. Balshaw looked positively competent. More than anything else though, England's exuded utter physical domination at the breakdown, and it soon yielded results.
Paul Sackey made an elegant run to Ireland's 22, and then Lipman took it on at pace and with strength. Lipman offloaded to Flood, who set the ball up well, and Cipriani wasted no time in looking for the men wide. The last man was Sackey, who ghosted over the line. Cipriani made it 10-10 with the extras.
Penalty after penalty came England's way thereafter, as Ireland were simply smashed out of the game. Steve Borthwick and Simon Shaw were monstrous, and Cipriani's clever choices released the backs dangerously each time. Jamie Noon could have scored on 25 minutes, and so could Toby Flood had Noon thought to look to his right instead of going for the line. Eventually Cipriani did give England the lead after half an hour from an offside penalty. That was pretty much it for the first half as England continued to dominate although Ireland held firm. So far so good for England, but what would the second half yield?
Well, it yielded a turnover from Croft, a charge into the England 22 from Shane Horgan, and a dangerous position for the Irish, but in stark contrast to previous weeks, England's defence held firm -- helped in no small way by the lack of support for Irish runners.
Four minutes later, after nine phases of English possession, a penalty, which Cipriani clipped over for a 16-10 lead. England were in complete control.
Ireland did not lie down. Tommy Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald combined superbly to take the ball into England's 22, but once again the subsequent phases were slowed by a lack of support. Ireland then managed to eke out a penalty, but O'Gara missed. Andrew Trimble, then Bowe, then Horgan, then Simon Easterby all got ball in good positions in the England 22, but every time the white shirts outnumbered the green ones by two to one, the door was held shut, and no Irishman would prise it open.
Eventually, after another deft piece of footwork by Cipriani, and with Jonny Wilkinson now installed in the centre to back the youngster up as the game approached crunch-time, a superb quick hands move led to a try in the corner for Mathew Tait, who had only been on for two minutes as a blood replacement for Sackey, and left the field again while celebrating his try. With Wilkinson on, the question hung in the air: Who would convert? Cipriani of course.
Then, Cipriani's pièce de resistance. A five-metre scrum, an outside line, and a perfect flip pass to Noon for England's third score, followed up by a majestic touchline conversion. He also landed another late penalty, completing a seven out of seven kicking record. Is this another false dawn or have England unearthed someone to guide them into the future? And will Brian Ashton be his mentor if they have?
Man of the Match: Please re-read. There is only one candidate. Arise, Sir Danny Cipriani.
Moment of the match: Mathew Tait's try. The kind of move England fans have been yearning for since last year.
Villain of the match: Nobody -- a good clean game, and it is worth noting how many times we have written this during this Six Nations.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Sackey, Tait, Noon
Cons: Cipriani 3
Pens: Cipriani 4
Drops:
For Ireland:
Tries: Kearney
Cons: O'Gara
Pens: O'Gara
England: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Steve Borthwick, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Phil Vickery (c), 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Ben Kay, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Mathew Tait.
Ireland: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Andrew Trimble, 12 Shane Horgan, 11 Rob Kearney, 10 Ronan O'Gara (c), 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Bernard Jackman, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Simon Easterby, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Luke Fitzgerald.
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor: Steve Hilditch (Ireland)
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