Ireland v England: Winners and losers as rookies ‘fail to impress’ while Currys ‘repay’ Steve Borthwick’s faith and James Lowe ‘leaps’ into Lions frame

Our winners and losers as Ireland claimed a 27-22 victory over England.
Following Ireland’s 27-22 victory over England in the Six Nations, we pick out our winners and losers from the match in Dublin.
Winners
Ben Curry
One of the selection calls that certainly paid off for Steve Borthwick. Ben Curry got a short cameo off the bench against the All Blacks last November but was not seen again during the Autumn Nations Series. However, he returned to Sale Sharks and tore up trees to earn his recall for the Six Nations.
Today, he repaid Borthwick’s faith in him as he, his brother and Ben Earl made what looked like a very unbalanced back-row work against the second-highest-ranked team in world rugby.
Ben topped the tackle count for England and was a menace at the breakdown in what was the kind of performance that should earn him more minutes in the Championship.
James Lowe
However, despite the best efforts of the England back-row or team in general, they were not good enough to keep the brilliant James Lowe quiet.
Lowe took a massive leap forward in staking his claim not just on the plane to Australia in June but as a starter for the side. He played a huge role in three tries for Ireland in a match where their attack struggled against a well-drilled England defence.
Add in his canon of a boot and Lowe is perfectly suited for any kind of gameplan Andy Farrell hopes to employ with the Lions and while we did see standout performances from the likes of Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe today, Lowe was head and shoulders above the competition.
Jamison Gibson-Park
Staying on the topic of the Lions and fellow New Zealand-born Ireland star, Jamison Gibson-Park, looked the nailed-on scrum-half after getting the better of Alex Mitchell today – one of the strongest contenders for the role.
While Mitchell kicked well on the whole, the England attack was just not good enough to cause Ireland issues while he also fell off a few tackles that he really should have made.
As for Gibson-Park, he stepped up when it mattered and along with Lowe, was the catalyst for change as Ireland ran away with the victory.
Simon Easterby
There was always going to be a bit of a transition period as Simon Easterby took over and Farrell took a backseat but despite being up against a fired-up England team, the interim boss came away with the win.
Notably, he timed his replacements rather well, which is a tricky business at the highest level.
Ollie Lawrence
There has been much debate around England’s midfield set-up but today, they rose to the occasion with Henry Slade having a superb first half but did fall off as the game went on.
But as for Ollie Lawrence, he produced arguably his best-ever game in an England shirt as he delivered on all his promise. He was brutally effective on defence and a massive threat with ball in hand. It’s also worth remembering who he was going toe-to-toe with, Garry Ringrose, who many believe deserves to be the starting Lions 13 in Australia.
Lawrence is not a name that comes up too often in the Lions debate but today he threw it into the hat.
Dan Sheehan
A welcome return to international rugby for Dan Sheehan as he backed up his brace for Leinster a week ago with another try today against England.
Sheehan provided just the kind of punch and energy off the bench that England lacked and looks right back at home in the green jersey.
Middle ground
Steve Borthwick
England certainly come out of this match with a lot more credit than they went into it but there are still some major concerns.
Borthwick’s charges came with a clear tactical gameplan and approach and executed marvellously for much of the match but the wheels came off as the bench came on.
The England boss has been rather conservative since taking over from Eddie Jones in 2023 but this week, he boldly stacked his back-three with what was essentially three openside flankers and on the whole, the tactic paid off with the Curry twins and Earl all having outstanding matches.
The Aviva Stadium is statistically one of the most difficult venues to visit in Test rugby right now but England rose to the challenge and even took a 10-5 lead into half-time.
But it was after that where the issue lies as Ireland pulled away in the second half. While England were tactically, physically and emotionally up for the challenge and can count themselves rather unfortunate with some of the decisions that went against them, the timing of some replacements just did not make sense.
Borthwick was absolutely under pressure going into the Six Nations and that hasn’t evaporated as the history books won’t show how well England played but just that they lost. The fact that his charges battled all the way to the final whistle to claim a losing bonus-point shows that they are still very much backing him.
Losers
Sam Prendergast
A few flashes of brilliance in an otherwise underwhelming performance from the young fly-half. The demands on a modern-day 10 are enormous and a rising star like Sam Prendergast is bound to have one of these days somewhere along the line – it’s part of the learning curve.
Far too many passes went to the floor or were too unkind on the recipients while he also struggled to find his range off the tee. England also threw some big men his way and while he did manage to defend admirably, it is an area he can work on.
He may have done enough for Easterby to give him another crack next weekend against Scotland but Jack Crowley is still breathing down his neck.
Ryan Baird
Much like his Leinster teammate, Ryan Baird just did not take full advantage of his opportunity in the starting XV. He also had moments of excellence but those were largely overshadowed by the fact that England won the battle up front when he was on the park and he concede a few frankly mindless penalties.
Cadan Murley
A stunning start to international rugby as Cadan Murley latched onto a clever kick from Slade to kick start his Test career in style. His first cap was a long time coming after starring for Harlequins for several seasons but after that try, things went rather pear-shaped.
He failed to really control the backfield with Ireland’s long kicking game putting him under immense pressure that he just could not handle.
He did come with some sharp moments in the latter stages as he played his part in Curry’s late try and made an excellent tackle but on the whole his errors were too costly.
Ellis Genge
Ellis Genge looked rather miffed on a number of occasions particularly at scrum-time as he was not rewarded for the pressure he put Finlay Bealham under.
It was a tough watch for the English loosehead who actually had a fine outing but just had no luck and got no reward for his efforts.
England scrum-halves
As mentioned above, Mitchell’s hope of being the starting Lions nine took a blow today while Harry Randall was largely ineffective off the bench.
Mitchell is clearly the starting scrum-half for England but perhaps this game was one too soon after his recent injury setback.
As for Randall, he failed to replicate his Bristol form in the England jersey once again and will have the likes of Ben Spencer breathing down his neck in training this week.
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