England vs. Ireland: Winners and Losers from International Match

England put in an impressive first-half display against a lacklustre Irish side to finalise their World Cup preparations in confident fashion.

Stuart Lancaster’s men were far better in front of a packed Twickenham crowd than they had been in defeat to France in Paris two weekends ago, and the coach will have been encouraged by several high-calibre displays from members of what was a near to full-strength lineup.

Ireland have now lost two in a row and there were worrying signs for coach Joe Schmidt that his back-to-back Six Nations winners have gone off the boil at precisely the wrong moment.

Let’s have a look at the winners and losers.

England’s waspish left wing lifted the roof off HQ with England’s first try that saw him barge through two-time Lions tourist Tommy Bowe.

May thought he had a second soon after but it was chalked off correctly for a forward pass.

Nevertheless, the Gloucester flyer made life hell for his opposite man all afternoon and was a constant menace when England quickly moved the ball his way.

May will be hard to shackle in this tournament.

It is hard to remember anyone making Tommy Bowe look so average, but Jonny May managed that in the first half at Twickenham.

The Ulsterman was horribly exposed on more than one occasion as England targeted Ireland’s right-hand side.

It will be an afternoon the ex-Osprey will want to forget. The Irish Independent’s Brendan Fanning wrote:

Schmidt should have real concerns over Tommy Bowe, who struggled from first to last. He was in the firing line for England's opening try, for man of the match Jonny May, and while even players of his class have momentary lapses it was hard to imagine the overlooked Andrew Trimble being bounced like that.

The wing is good enough to come back from a bad day at the office, but Fanning’s point about the greater physical presence of Trimble, left out of the World Cup squad, is one that might sting.

If England have identified a weakness on the right side of the Irish rearguard, others will look to exploit it.

If Jonny May’s try was impressive for the surprising way he outmuscled Tommy Bowe, Anthony Watson’s was enjoyable for the precise way it was executed.

England isolated Irish full-back Simon Zebo and George Ford’s cross-kick forced the Munsterman to backpedal before attempting to jump and gather it.

Watson timed his run and jump perfectly, rising highest to claim the ball and pirouette over the line.

The Bath man was a regular threat with his fast footwork and has given England a bit of X-factor out wide.

Ireland have opted to take just one specialist full-back to the World Cup in the shape of Rob Kearney.

He was not present yesterday, and Simon Zebo, though a competent No. 15, looked less comfortable than he does in his more customary wing berth.

Zebo got exposed for Anthony Watson’s try and did not provide the assured presence guaranteed by Kearney when he is marshaling the backfield.

Joe Schmidt has put all his eggs in the Kearney basket for the tournament, and Zebo’s display Saturday may have shown that decision to be questionable.

Without a clear idea of where each coach expects his side to be in terms of fitness at this point in preparations, it looked at Twickenham as though England were the fitter of the two sides.

Their back row ran hard lines and carried often, their defensive line was tigerish and their appetite to win this game was evidently greater.

In comparison, a number of the Irish players looked a little heavy-legged.

This may be of no concern to Joe Schmidt, who will know what’s left to do, but on this showing, England had far more gas in the tank.