England put down a marker in their penultimate home game before the Rugby World Cup as they beat Ireland 57-15 at Twickenham on Saturday.
The hosts crossed eight times and go into their final match, against Italy in Newcastle, full of confidence before they fly out to Japan.
Joe Cokanasiga (2), Elliot Daly, Manu Tuilagi, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Tom Curry and Luke Cowan-Dickie got the tries while captain Owen Farrell kicked 15 points as England racked up their biggest ever score against Ireland in an international. It was an impressive showing.
In reply, Ireland went over via Jordan Larmour and Bundee Aki but they were extremely poor at Twickenham.
England would have been enthused by their first-half performance as they went over three times to go in 22-10 to the good in the sunshine.
In conditions perfect for running rugby, both sides chanced their arm in attack and it was Ireland who crossed first, this after Farrell landed a penalty. The try came out wide as Jacob Stockdale's chip sat up for Larmour, with Ross Byrne making it 7-3 off the tee.
England took just three minutes to respond though as quick hands from a scrum saw the ball moved to Cokanasiga, who showed pace and his strength with a fend to cross the whitewash. Despite Farrell missing the tough conversion attempt, England were back in front.
The lead changed hands twice more approaching the half-hour as first Iain Henderson's breakdown work allowed Byrne to slot a penalty. But then numbers were created by England in the 22 and Curry timed his pass well to Daly for a score on the right to make it 15-10.
It's full time at Twickenham and England have recorded an emphatic victory over Ireland in the #QuilterInternationals 🌹#ENGvIRE #CarryThemHome pic.twitter.com/92Q1TTvAvN
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) August 24, 2019
England would score again in the closing 10 minutes of the half as scrappy ball at the base five metres out did not stop Tuilagi going over. Further concern for Ireland would be the sight of both scrum-half Conor Murray and prop Cian Healy coming off the field injured.
Murray did return before the break but was replaced permanently at half-time before England continued to show their quality, pouncing on an Irish overthrow at a line-out 20 metres out as Itoje ran a smart line off Ben Youngs. That pushed England into a 29-10 lead.
In their first warm-up fixture, Ireland were struggling to keep pace and the margin grew on 53 minutes when Kruis scored to make it 36-10.
Curry was next to cross three minutes later after nice hands from Kyle Sinckler to Sam Underhill sent him over and England up to 43 points.
The icing was added on 65 minutes with Cokanasiga's second try bringing up 50 points and, despite Aki finishing well on the right wing on 73 minutes, it did little to paper over a dismal day for Joe Schmidt's outfit, with Cowan-Dickie having the final say for a rampant England.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Cokanasiga 2, Daly, Tuilagi, Itoje, Kruis, Curry, Cowan-Dickie
Cons: Farrell 6, Ford
Pen: Farrell
Yellow Card: Kruis
For England:
Tries: Larmour, Aki
Con: 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
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Joe Marchant
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Jean Kleyn, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Andrew Conway
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure (France)
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