Muscular Saxons plunder the spoils

A International/ Ireland 5 England Saxons 30: Forget the perceived notion that English rugby is in the doldrums; this was a rout. The theory that Irish rugby is enjoying a golden period may also merit scrutiny.

In mitigation, when it comes to a numbers game below senior Test level Ireland should always struggle against England.

The Irish forwards were outmuscled last night, and the back line had to live off scraps. Besides the potential of Connacht's Danny Riordan and Conor O'Loughlin, there were few positives to report here. Plenty of missed tackles though.

When the early niggle up front subsided - the hookers Frankie Sheahan and Dylan Hartley exchanged pleasantries - the Saxons began to dominate via the maul and out of touch, affording outhalf Shane Geraghty time to unleash his loose forwards and powerful rugby league convert Chev Walker. Mike Catt also brought an enterprising approach Ireland failed to counteract.

The defence initially held firm, conceding just a penalty under the posts, converted by Geraghty.

Given such an armchair ride any outhalf would look good, but there is something special about the London Irish man of Mayo pedigree.

The try-line was eventually breached after the half-hour when scrumhalf Peter Richards and Hartley combined off a maul before the burly hooker brushed past Rob Kearney in the corner.

The Irish reply was immediate: a raid into the 22 that yielded a kickable penalty. O'Loughlin spurned the simple three points with a quick tap before sending the alert Kearney over.

But the game soon settled back into the routine of English superiority, only interrupted by the half-time whistle.

Time to regroup albeit without the injured Keith Gleeson, while Peter Bracken replaced Ronan McCormack to allow Bryan Young switch to his preferred loosehead position. The Saxons also lost their number eight Jordan Crane in some ferocious forward exchanges on a bitterly cold Belfast night.

When Ireland did eventually gain territory they struggled to maintain momentum, handing back possession through handling errors.

The maul was also disrupted and Ian Humphreys struggled to make room for the three-quarters with the slow, lateral ball he received.

Catt calmly dropped a goal after another slow march into the 22. At 11-5 the game was still there for the taking but the visitors exuded authority.

Geraghty's one flaw is place kicking. He missed two straightforward penalties, keeping Ireland in the game - but they could not get a sniff of possession.

It required a spark of genius to get them out of their 22, and young Riordan supplied it with a jinking half break but lacked support.

The killer blow came via the field smarts of Catt, a quick tap and reverse pass putting Haskell in for the decisive try on 65 minutes. Geraghty missed his fourth kick at goal.

The Irish response got them to half-way, only for possession to again be lost at the breakdown.

Moment's later left wing David Strettle waltzed past three feeble tackles for the third try. And Geraghty finally found his range.

The Ravenhill crowd made for the exits, and that included coaches Eddie O'Sullivan and Niall O'Donovan.

England also emptied their bench, and their replacement scrumhalf Richard Wigglesworth cut inside some more poor attempted tackles to dot down under the posts.

There was one last, pride-induced, charge toward the English line before French referee Jermone Garces put the hosts out of their misery and let everyone involved get in out of the chill February air.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 15 mins: S Geraghty pen, 3-0; 31: D Hartley try, 8-0; 33: R Kearney try, 8-5; 55: M Catt drop goal, 11-5; 65: J Haskell try, 16-5; 72: D Strettle try, Geraghty con, 23-5; 75: R Wigglesworth try, Geraghty con, 30-5.

IRELAND A: D Riordan; T Bowe, B Murphy, K Lewis, R Kearney; I Humphreys, C O'Loughlin; R McCormack, F Sheahan, B Young; T Hogan, L Cullen (capt); S Ferris, K Gleeson, R Wilson. Replacements: S Jennings for Gleeson (inj, 37 mins), P Bracken for McCormack (half-time), B Jackman for Sheahan (52 mins), K Campbell for O'Loughlin, J Sexton for Humphreys, D Gannon for Ferris, J Hearty for Murphy (all 76 mins).

ENGLAND SAXONS: M Brown; M Cueto, C Walker, M Catt (capt), D Strettle; S Geraghty, P Richards; T Payne, D Hartley, S Turner; D Schofield, A Brown; C Jones, J Scaysbrook, J Crane. Replacements: J Haskell for Crane (inj, 31 mins), A Titterrell for Hartley (65 mins), N Wood for Turner (70 mins), B Woods for Scaysbrook, R Wigglesworth for Richards (both 72 mins), O Barkley for Catt (75 mins).

Referee: J Garces(France).