Beirne bags try as Ireland beat England
Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne celebrates scoring their third try with Iain Henderson Photo: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Tadhg Beirne was among the try scorers as Ireland turned in a barnstorming second half to open their Six Nations campaign with a 27-22 win over England in the Aviva Stadium.
It wasn't such a good day, however, for Sam Prendergast as he struggled on his championship debut in the face of intense English pressure.
England opened the scoring with a Cadan Murley try after nine minutes and that set in motion a nervy first half for Ireland.
Ireland thought they pulled back a try seven minutes later but Ronan Kelleher's effort was ruled out due to an infringement in the ruck by Beirne.
That Irish try did eventually arrive in the 36th minute when Jamison Gibson-Park went over but Prendergast clipped the outside of the post with the conversion attempt.
Marcus Smith then stroked over a penalty to leave England 10-5 ahead at half time.
Ireland were a different team in the second half and levelled the scores with a Bundee Aki try in the 52nd minute.
Prendergast couldn't add on the extras from a difficult kick but did score his first Six Nations points four minutes later when he nailed a penalty after a Maro Itoje infraction.
That was Prendergast's last significant involvement and he was replaced just short of the hour mark by Jack Crowley.
Crowley's introduction coincided with Ireland's best spell in the game and Beirne's big moment came in the 64th minute. James Lowe made a brilliant line break and had options right and left but chose to pick out Beirne and the big Eadestown man stayed going before crossing the line for his 12th Irish try on his 57th appearance.
The Aviva Stadium was bouncing when Ireland secured the bonus point in the 72nd when Lowe was provider, this time to Dan Sheehan who crashed home for Ireland's fourth try. Crowley converted both those tries to leave Ireland 27-10 ahead.
There will surely be some disappointment for Simon Easterby and the Irish management that instead of shutting the game down, Ireland let England in for two tries after that meant they left Dublin with a bonus point but overall it was a very good day indeed.
