Chiefs trio suffer defeat at hands of Ireland

By Mark Stevens
12/3/22

Ireland kept their hopes of a Six Nations title alive as they finally saw off a valiant, spirited England who played 78 minutes with 14 men after Charlie Ewels' red card.

Ewels was dismissed with just 82 seconds on the clock after clashing heads with James Ryan in an attempted tackle.

Ireland, the pre-match favourites, seemed set for a procession at Twickenham. Instead they were dragged into a desperate, captivating dogfight by the depleted hosts.

James Lowe and Hugo Keenan scored first-half tries, but Marcus Smith's boot kept England - who included the Exeter Chiefs trio of Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Sam Simmonds in their starting line-up - in touch with three penalties for a 15-9 scoreline at the break.

Smith potted another two to bring England level after the hour. It seemed an extraordinary heist may be on as Twickenham roared like it rarely has before.

Ireland, though, finally made their advantage and strength in depth pay as they came on strong late on with Jack Conan and Finlay Bealham crossing to squash the resistance.

The defeat ends England's hopes of winning the Six Nations, but they could have a say in the trophy's destination. Denying France in Paris next weekend would open the door for Ireland, who take on Scotland in the final round.

England head coach Eddie Jones no complaints about the red card that was given to his Ewels, but the Aussie didn’t hold back post-match in another area of the game,challenging World Rugby to do something about the refereeing of the scrum.

Jones complained that his England team was not allowed to gain enough advantage when they dominated the Irish scrum in their defeat to Ireland in Twickenham. He also bemoaned the fact that there were no yellow cards shown to Irish players for constant infringement.

“I’m a bit disappointed the referee didn’t allow us to scrum fully,” said Jones. “That would be my only complaint. And we weren’t allowed to play advantage away from the scrum.

“We got four scrum penalties and there was no sign of a yellow card. If World Rugby wants to have a scrum in the game they have got to allow strong scrums to allow themselves to dominate. We’re a bit disappointed we didn’t get a lot more out of that mate.

“He (Ewels) is disappointed. No one apportions blame. It was a genuine attempt to make a good tackle. His head was just in the wrong spot and we’ve got no questions about the red card.”

Jones said little about the Irish performance, but was impressed with how 14-man England went about playing the game.

“Great spirit, great tactical discipline,” said Jones. “We got to about 15 all, then controlling the game, and we just made a couple of mistakes that allowed them into the game.

“But it’s a great learning experience for this team. I couldn’t be prouder of them, the older guys like Courtney (Lawes), (Ellis) Genge, Jamie George played beautifully. The young guys adapted very well and they’ll learn a lot about that.”