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Your support makes all the difference.THE Celtic fringe, badly singed by the victories over Wales and Scotland, was given another roasting yesterday amidst a flurry of fitful England artistry and a blizzard of Irish error. It was an untidy game not helped, admittedly, by a blustery wind and some uncharacteristically uneven refereeing by Derek Bevan, but England duly claimed their fourth Triple Crown in as many years. Of the many records available to them on the day, both individually and collectively, the only one to be broken was the number of points scored in a Five Nations series which bettered last year's total of 141 points by five.
At half-time, however, after England had established an 18-point lead and had scored three fine tries, it seemed that every record in the book would be vulnerable to the home side's overwhelming supremacy. But the fickleness of the conditions combined with a spirited Irish recovery thwarted England's best-laid plans. Throughout the first half they had produced shafts of brilliance but despite the excellence of much of their play, and the sustained quality of Neil Back and the captain, Lawrence Dallaglio, in the back row in their attempts to bring continuity to the play, England were unable to recycle the ball they needed quickly enough.
The Irish pack had a hand and very often both feet in this, but once again the inability of their backs to pose any serious threat hampered them at every turn. Denis Hickie was a glowing exception in this respect. He scored two tries and once skinned Mike Catt, exposing the Englishman's inexperience on the wing. There was also a horrifying moment in the second half when Eric Elwood, who had been having a wretched game, was involved in a collision with Mark McCall. Their clash of heads knocked both senseless and McCall was carried off on a stretcher. He did, however, recover consciousness in the dressing room and was reported to be in reasonable shape. Elwood stayed on the pitch and his play improved significantly. He produced two sublime touches, one of which opened the way for a Keith Wood run and the other laid on Hickie's second try. Astonishingly, this score brought Ireland back into the match, just eight points behind, but it was as close as they were to get.
England regrouped and redoubled their efforts. Grayson kicked his third penalty and Phil de Glanville, the replacement for Will Greenwood, rolled over for England's fourth try which Grayson converted. For the second successive season, England's victories over the home nations have been tinged with a failure to realise their full potential. Matt Perry had a fine match at full-back, standing his ground bravely under the swirling ball, fielding confidently, kicking crisply and, with one glaring exception, running positively. His try, after four minutes, was the result of Greenwood's deft flick, which took out two Irish defenders, and an accurately floated pass from Jeremy Guscott.
Guscott, clearly enjoying himself, was more actively involved in this match. His serenely timed runs created panic in the Irish defence and on a couple of occasions he was an ankle tap short of scoring. But he will not reflect with any great pleasure on the moment when Victor Costello caught him from behind. Back was another success. This was his kind of game and he did pretty well, everything except score a try. But he did make one. Austin Healey scuttled across to the right and when the ball was moved left Back fed Richard Cockerill. With Ciaran Clarke, the Irish fullback, temporarily hors de combat the Leicester hooker, cheeks puffing and chest swelling, found his way to the line unimpeded and, amidst an explosion of noise from the disbelieving crowd, dived over with a triumphant flourish. For good measure he booted the ball high into the stand, a feat repeated later in the match by Catt after he had scored. This, one hopes, is not the start of what could become a tiresome ritual.
At this stage Ireland were on their knees. They were making a huge number of elementary errors and Elwood's lack of control was undoing much of the excellent work of both Irish locks and Andy Ward, who does, alas, have a disconcerting habit of fading badly as the game progresses. He put in a superb tackle on Perry a few minutes after Hickie's crashing tackle on Guscott had prevented a certain try. But just when it seemed that Ireland were about to crack they scored.
Grayson's long pass to Perry died on the wind and Hickie, as he had done against the French in Paris, intercepted and ran half the length of the field for the try. It kept Ireland in the match almost until half-time when England scored the sweetest of their tries. Greenwood slipped a ball to Guscott whose beautifully judged pass was taken by Catt. Although he was brought down just short of the line by Hickie his momentum carried him over and, for good measure, Grayson converted to put England out of reach.
The second half was, if anything, untidier than the first, fractured by a freshening wind and the high injury count. The Irish, to their credit, made a game of it. Elwood kicked a penalty and converted Hickie's second try which, with his sleight of hand, he had set up. But the gap was always going to be too great to close. After de Glanville's try the biggest cheer was raised for the appearance of Jonny Wilkinson who at 18 years of age was the youngest Englishman to win a cap since Colin Laird in 1927.
England: M Perry (Bath); M Catt (Bath), W Greenwood (Leicester), J Guscott (Bath), A Healey (Leicester); P Grayson (Northampton), M Dawson (Northampton); J Leonard (Harlequins), R Cockerill (Leicester), D Garforth (Leicester), M Johnson (Leicester), G Archer (Newcastle), L Dallaglio (Wasps, capt), N Back (Leicester), T Diprose (Saracens). Replacements: P de Glanville (Bath) for Greenwood, 53; D Grewcock (Saracens) for Archer, 54; J Wilkinson (Newcastle) for Catt, 78.
Ireland: C Clarke (Terenure College); R Wallace (Saracens), K Maggs (Bristol), M McCall (London Irish), D Hickie (St Mary's College); E Elwood (Galwegians), C McGuinness (St Mary's College); R Corrigan (Greystones), K Wood (Harlequins, capt), P Wallace (Saracens), P Johns (Saracens), M O'Kelly (London Irish), D Corkery (Bristol), A Ward (Ballynahinch), V Costello (St Mary's College). Replacements: K Keane (Garryowen) for McCall, 44; D Humphreys (London Irish) for C Clarke, 69.
Referee: D Bevan (Wales).
England 35 Ireland 17
Tries: Perry, Cockerill, Catt, Tries: Hickie (2)
De Glanville Cons: Elwood (2)
Cons: Grayson (3) Pen: Elwood
Pens Grayson (3)
Half-time: 25-7 Attendance: 75,000
How they stand
P W D L F A Pts
England 4 3 0 1 146 87 6
France 3 3 0 0 93 49 6
Wales 3 2 0 1 75 94 4
Scotland 4 1 0 3 66 120 2
Ireland 4 0 0 4 70 102 0
Remaining fixture: Today: Wales v France (at Wembley).
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