Ireland beat World Champions England in a thrilling encounter at Twickenham today, by 19 points to 13. Ireland played solidly throughout and were more than deserving victors on the day.

Ireland started well forcing England deep into their half for the first 25 minutes. Despite a seemingly easy Ronan O’Gara kick that was missed, they managed to pull ahead by 6 points, before conceding a soft Matt Dawson try that put England 7 - 6 ahead. England then stretched their lead further when Ireland gave away a penalty infront of the posts, but two more penalties from Ronan O’Gara put Ireland 12 - 10 ahead at the break.

England managed to raise their game a bit for the second half, with Ben Cohen having a try disallowed for a double movement. After that escape Ireland seemed to play better, with Girvan Dempsey scoring after a well worked Ireland move. England kept coming back at them, but could only add another penalty to their tally, giving Ireland their first victory at Twickenham since 1994. Ireland also become the first team to beat England at Twickenham since 1999.

Ireland now look capable of winning a Triple Crown, with only a game against an out of form Scotland at Landsdowne Road standing in their way.

Remember you can discuss this historic victory for Ireland in our forums.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 6th, 2004 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Six Nations, International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.