In a match that hung on the edge, Ireland had the challenge of maintaining their 22-20 lead for a span of 6 minutes and 10 seconds after Bundee Aki intercepted Marcus Smith’s restart in the wake of Ireland’s left-wing, James Lowe, scoring his second attempt. During this critical period, Ireland managed to maintain possession in four bouts of continuous play before Smith made a decisive drop goal, running down the clock and netting England a victory. Looking back, Andy Farrell’s team undoubtedly sees areas where they could have altered their strategy.
At 73.50, Aki caught the restart within the Irish 22 and was tackled. Conor Murray’s box-kick was caught by Hugo Keenan at 74.03, and he tackled Smith to counter the English outhalf’s attempted rally. England tried several more moves before Theo Dan took the ball almost mid-field. However, Maro Itoje shrewdly entangled Iain Henderson, leading to a penalty against Ireland for not rolling away at the 74.25 mark. Elliott Daly failed to convert the succeeding penalty, with the kick sailing right and clear off the posts.
By 76.11, Jack Crowley was dropping out, and a minute later, Danny Care’s inside kick within Irish 22 was obstructed, and Henderson retrieved the unfettered ball. Finlay Bealham was set-up for a ruck just inside Irish 22 by Crowley. By 77.22, Murray’s back pass to Lowe resulted in a kick deep into the English half, which George Furbank collected two metres from the sideline.
Gibson-Park ousted England’s counterattack by pushing Furbank to touch at 77.45. At 78.07, England found themselves a man down when Chandler Cunningham-South was forced off the field due to injury. With no replacements left for the home side, the Irish capitalised with Rónan Kelleher executing a perfect throw to Henderson. Ryan Baird and Jack Conan quickly followed suit, setting up a ruck just inside the 22 at the 78:13 mark.
In an instance at 78.32, Murray makes a challenging choice in kicking the ball off-field with only 88 seconds remaining. Rather than attempting the reasonably ordinary pick-n-jam technique to kill time, which though usual, comes with peril at such a ground position. The ball landing in the stands, the last time Ireland lawfully interacts with the ball, is the outcome of Murray not prioritising distance in his kick.
At 79.07, a play sequence is initiated by Dan engaging Itoje at a lineout, which Ireland would certainly prefer to replay. Ireland is culpable for permitting England to pass the ball to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso unchallenged due to their relaxed pace and gentle sweep against a team of 14, resulting in him storming past Aki and Keenan’s defences and ending deep within the Irish 22.
By the 79.30 mark, a penalty advantage has arisen as England have ensnared Lowe in the ruck, although the outcome is unpredictable.
By 80.06, another penalty advantage is inaugurated. Despite managing to get to the ball at a ruck just a few metres away, Tadhg Beirne is unable to react to referee Nika Amashukeli’s shouted warning, “no hands, you’ve lost it.” resulting in the call of penalty advantage.
With time at 80.16, the English team manoeuvres the ball back to the centre of the field, enabling Smith to score the decisive drop goal even while losing balance.