Worrying scenes at Twickenham.
Conor Murray and Cian Healy were the early Irish casualties as war raged in London.
Jordan Larmour scored his fifth Test try to give Ireland a good start against England but there was a double disaster in the space of 30 seconds, around half an hour in.
Ireland were leading 10-8 when Conor Murray was flattened by a charging Jonny May, who dropped his elbow to shield the ball and connected with the head of the Ireland scrumhalf.
Murray was immediately sparked. Can't see him appearing again pic.twitter.com/i7J9CX0h6s
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) August 24, 2019
Play raged on and Jacob Stockdale rashly bit in and did not get to the man or ball in time, leaving his wing exposed for Elliot Daly to score. Murray went off for a Head Injury Assessment as the conversion sailed over.
With Keith Earls not yet ready to go straight into Test action, Jordan Larmour took his chance in the No.14 jersey. The Leinster winger was facing off against Jonny Way in a battle over on his wing, and was coping well, but his first significant impact arrived on the far side of the pitch.
England had edged 3-0 ahead when, on eight minutes, Iain Henderson stole a lineout and had the hosts scrambling. Ireland took full advantage with a sweeping move and Rob Kearmey’s looped pass set up Jacob Stockdale for a one-on-one with Joe Cokanasiga.
The Ulster star chipped ahead and drew over three men to bottle him up, but a jagged bounce took them all out of the equation. Manu Tuilagi would not be happy with his effort to snaffle the ball but Larmour did not care a jot. He had drifted over to his opposite wing and pounced to grab himself another try in the green jersey.
Jordan Larmour doing wonders for his RWC selection chances with this scorepic.twitter.com/Zf0I7QrJPt
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 24, 2019
Larmour settled in well after that and kicked in well behind the English lines as well as contesting for high balls against May and Elliott Daly.
He could not take down Cokanasiga for his try, which nudged England back ahead, but he was Ireland’s most dangerous back in the first half. His flying start won a lot of merited praise.
It was going well for Ireland, especially after Byrne’s penalty made it 10-8, but the Murray blow and Daly try stung then badly.
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