England beat Ireland in final rugby warm-up

By Mitch Phillips

England completed their Rugby World Cup preparations with a deserved 21-13 victory over Ireland on Saturday, putting them in great heart for the tournament opener against Fiji back at Twickenham in 13 days but leaving Ireland to analyse a second successive defeat.

England hit the ground running, unrecognisable from the team brushed aside by France two weeks ago, as Jonny May powered over for the opening try after three minutes and fellow winger Anthony Watson brilliantly soared to collect a pin-point George Ford kick to put them 12-3 ahead at the break.

Ireland, beaten at home by Wales last week, had shown little in any department but the Six Nations champions closed the gap to two points when captain Paul O’Connell forced his way over early in the second half.

England, however, soon regained control and two late penalties by replacement flyhalf Owen Farrell secured the much-needed victory that maintained their 2015 unbeaten home record.

England captain Chris Robshaw, speaking to Sky Sports, said: “It’s great to be back at home. When we play at home, we can be pretty good when we stick to our systems. Discipline was an issue for us two weeks ago.

“We put Ireland under pressure today, and it was a great dress rehearsal before the big one in two weeks’ time. Potentially, we left two tries out there by not being clinical enough. But overall, we’re pretty pleased with how things went today.”

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