England started strongly in the first half and lead by 10-5 at the break, despite a yellow card for Marcus Smith for infringing near his own line in the 25th minute. Both teams had a try apiece going into the break. 

England’s try was scored by Cadan Murley, while Ireland’s was put on the board by Jamison Gibson-Park.

Ireland thoroughly dominated an action-packed second half, ignited with a try by Bundee Aki early on. Ireland scored two more tries in the second half, courtesy of Tadhg Beirne with 15 minutes left on the clock and Dan Sheehan scoring a fourth bonus point-clinching try.

A huge W to kick off our title defence! ??#TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/Hdr1AHFpYK

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 1, 2025

Tries by Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman in the final five minutes of the game were enough to give England a losing bonus point, but not enough to prevent a seventh narrow loss in nine games since defeating the Irish last year.

Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby told the BBC after the match that there was a lot at stake for the team. “We had to find a way. We felt if we did a few things better in the way we were doing things, then we would get the rewards. England defended well and made it tough for us. We are happy with how our set piece went. The guys who started laid a good foundation as it wasn’t easy. It was physical and all you’d expect. The bench benefited from the work done,” he said.

Next weekend, England will host France at Twickenham (Saturday) and Ireland will travel to Edinburgh to take on Scotland.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger cg