Ireland 24-8 England

Where the hell did that performance come from?!
An immense performance from the Irish team, with big physicality and commitment from 1 to 22. Ireland stopped the English on the gain line all day and were making line breaks all over the field.
For Brian O'Driscoll's try that wasn't to be, it was fantastic work from the Irish with runners offering themselves and quick ball from the breakdown. Pity about the forward pass.
Great stuff from Jonny Sexton for Tommy Bowe's try. He had the vision to see that England were strugging to get back and he raced up to the mark to take a quick tap and sent the ball out to Bowe to sail through the thin English defence.
England only got into the Irish half once or twice and the Irish gave away penalties each time and were punished for one of them. I hope this isn't a continuation from the penalty issue that has plagued them for most of the championship.
It was a great first 40 minutes to watch with the action being non stop throughout.
O'Driscoll's try was almost a carbon copy of the one that was disallowed. Once again runners were offering themselves, combined with quick ball, created the gap for O'Driscoll to cross the whitewash.
It was a very well read intercept by Steve Thompson for his try off an Irish lineout. But it wasn't enough to get the chariot swinging again.
This is the performance that we prayed for all championship and I personnally thought that we wouldn't get. A lot of players that have underperformed really stood up today, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip, Gordon D'Arcy, Donncha O'Callaghan and Rory Best. I have a large amount of humble pie to eat at the moment and I'm enjoying every bite!!
My Man of the Match is Jonny Sexton. He was brilliant today. Pulling the strings and unleashing the team. Huge credit has to go to Eoin Reddan for his quick service which was pivotal in helping Sexton and the team. It's about time that Sexton had the chance to play off a quick scrum half and it has shown what he, and this team, are capable of. Honourable mentions for Wallace and especially the tight five who were magnificent all around the pitch.
I'm afraid that I can't decide on one Irish player of the tournament, so I have to pick two. The two men in question are Sean O'Brien and Mike Ross.
O'Brien has been immaculate in the loose with strong dynamic ball carrying and support lines. Ireland could have scored a lot more tries if more players ran angles off him.
On the other end of the spectrum is Ross, who has been immaculate in the tight and has to take massive credit for the quantum leap that the Irish scrum has made in this tournament. He got thrown in at the deep end and he was more than able to cope.
The Irish team have to kick on from here!
I'll be back again to talk about The Heineken Cup in the near future.


I'm off to finish this humble pie!