England have roared back into the Six Nations mix with another comprehensive 24-12 demolition of Ireland - their best performance of the year.
The English were superb in the first half, leading 17-0 at the break, and treating the home fans to glimpses of the attacking verve and aggressive defence that marked memorable World Cup wins over Australia and New Zealand four months ago.
Ireland looked flat and short of ideas, as they barely fired a shot in the first period and although they did regroup in the second, they were well beaten, despite coming into the game on the back of two wins.
"We knew Ireland were on good form and we came out flying," said England flanker and Man of the Match Courtney Lawes, after his team had chalked up a third successive dominant win over the Irish.
"We put an emphasis on that all week. It was great to get out here with the boys,"
After three rounds, both teams are on nine points from two wins and one defeat, with France, who have won their first three games, topping the standings on 13 points. Wales and Scotland are on six, with Italy yet to register.
England set the tone from the opening exchanges and barely took their foot off the pedal throughout the first half.
They were on the board after nine minutes, when Johnny Sexton failed to deal with the awkward bounce of Ben Youngs's grubber kick, allowing George Ford to dive on it.
A similar scenario unfolded for the second try, withh Jacob Stockdale fatally hesitating over Ford's kick and Elliot Daly reaching it just in time to touch down.
England's attack was full of hard, aggressive running and neat, delayed passing that repeatedly punched holes in the Irish defence.
Conversely, when the visitors had the ball, the English loose forward trio of Lawes, Tom Curry and Sam Underhill swarmed all over them.
Farrell slotted a penalty to stretch the lead to 17-0 at halftime, no more than England deserved.
Ireland had barely visited the English 22 and the one opportunity they did get was wasted, when Sexton screwed an easy penalty wide.
They looked more fired up after the restart and hit back with a Robbie Henshaw try, but it didn't last long and even then, Sexton was again off beam with the simple conversion.
Reuters
