O'Gara shades the battle in the pressure zone

It was crush hour at Twickenham between 3 o'clock and 4 o'clock yesterday as the crowds were squeezed through inadequate barriers after security checks and then were left to mill around in a two-way tide of humanity.

But their eagerness to get into the ground was understandable given the passion which was shown by both teams when the match eventually got under way. In fact it began as it promised to finish: as a game of four half-backs. Every critical action, certainly in the first half concerned one or other pairing.

The Irish duo, scrum-half Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara, just about had the better of their opposite numbers Matt Dawson and Paul Grayson, although the Englishmen were responsible for their team's only try.

That came when the England scrum wheeled and opened up the Irish right for Lawrence Dallaglio to put pressure on Stringer, who was caught in possession. Richard Hill got a toe to the ball; the sharp-witted Grayson swooped and scooped and then, having drawn the cover, fed Dawson the scoring pass, the Northampton scrum-half running the sharpest of angles. Grayson, naturally added the conversion.

More pressure on Stringer, again from a skewed scrum, forced Ireland - who had by this time scored two penalties through O'Gara - into another error in front of their posts and Grayson made amends for an earlier miss.

The Irishman knocked over two more penalties before half-time thus giving the Irish pairing a psychological edge, if not a tactical one. They certainly looked to use their feet rather than their heads when running at the English as if reluctant to risk taking them on.

It would have been OK if the kicks had produced anything, but apart from giving rise to the first penalty, from which O'Gara contrived to find the left-hand upright, they were worthless, other than to pin England in their own 22 for long spells.

But at this level - as at any level - position must be turned into points. Too often England were allowed to slip the leash and swarm snarling upfield.

Stringer in particular, appeared to be struggling under the pressure. He was caught an uncharacteristic number of times in possession and if he did get the ball away it was invariably spoiled.

When, shortly after the interval, with the Irish pressing hard, his poorly directed pass floated too far in front of the receiver it brought a promising move to a standstill and the opportunity went begging.

O'Gara regained that edge when he converted Girvan Dempsey's try from the touchline, putting the men in green back in front by two scores. And English hearts were in their mouths moments later when O'Gara made a fine break before feeding Brian O'Driscoll. The move came to naught, but it had rattled their opponents.

Stringer, his confidence growing as the second half progressed, began to find his touch, despite England finally managing to assert themselves enough to force the occasional error, one of which saw Grayson kick his second penalty to reduce the arrears to a mere four points.

But England were also making mistakes, one Dawson pass forced Grayson to leap and snatch at the ball overhead. He could only knock it on and another useful position was lost. Grayson did manage a delicate chip moments later which the chasing Will Greenwood and Josh Lewsey only just failed to reach. But the force and the luck stayed with Ireland.

Line-ups

England: I Balshaw (Bath); J Lewsey (Wasps), W Greenwood (Harlequins), J Robinson (Sale), B Cohen (Northampton); P Grayson (North-ampton), M Dawson (Northampton); T Woodman (Gloucester), S Thompson (North- ampton), P Vickery (Gloucester), S Borthwick (Bath), B Kay (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), L Dallaglio (Wasps, capt), R Hill (Saracens). Replacements: M Regan (Leeds) for Thompson 58; M Stevens (Bath); C Jones (Sale) for Worsley 52; J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester) for Balshaw 52.

Ireland: G Dempsey (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (capt, Leinster), T Howe (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), A Foley (Munster), K Gleeson (Leinster). Replacement: K Maggs (Bath) for Dempsey, 60.

Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).