Category: England

Throwback Thursday – Ireland v England 2011

This week we go back to yet another Ireland win over England, just because.

Technically our choice of Throwback Thursday match should be based on our NEXT featured match, but, well, Twickenham. Nuff said. Let’s harp on that some more, shall we.

So there I was, writing my weekly 80+ column (one back here on the Substack feed) and I brought up the time it got leaked that England had produced a load of Grand Slam winning t-shirts ahead of their visit to Dublin, only to forget to do the most important thing, namely actually winning said Slam.

All of which inspired me to hark back to my writeup of that match in the Aviva Stadium. It was a time when Declan Kidney’s good will from his own 2009 Slam was starting to wear off…in this 2011 Championship we had already struggled to beat Italy & Scotland and lost to France & Wales before the English rocked up to our shiny new D4 home for the first time.

We all know what happened, yet I assume we all enjoy remembering what happened same as any other time we beat them, so here are the starting lineups followed by the writeup…

IRELAND

15 Keith Earls 14 Tommy Bowe 13 Brian O’Driscoll (c) 12 Gordon D’Arcy 11 Andrew Trimble 10 Johnny Sexton 9 Eoin Reddan

1 Cian Healy 2 Rory Best 3 Mike Ross 4 Donncha O’Callaghan 5 Paul O’Connell 6 Seán O’Brien 7 David Wallace 8 Jamie Heaslip

16 Seán Cronin 17 Tom Court 18 Leo Cullen 19 Denis Leamy 20 Peter Stringer 21 Ronan O’Gara 22 Paddy Wallace

ENGLAND

15 Ben Foden 14 Chris Ashton 13 Matt Banahan 12 Shontayne Hape 11 Mark Cueto 10 Toby Flood 9 Ben Youngs

1 Alex Corbisiero 2 Dylan Hartley 3 Dan Cole 4 Louis Deacon 5 Tom Palmer 6 Tom Wood 7 James Haskell 8 Nick Easter (c)

16 Steve Thompson 17 Paul Doran-Jones 18 Simon Shaw 19 Tom Croft 20 Danny Care 21 Jonny Wilkinson 22 David Strettle

RBS Six Nations – Round 5

Saturday, March 19, 2011

KO 5pm

Aviva Stadium

Referee – Bryce Lawrence (NZL)

SLAM, DENIED. FAITH, RESTORED.

Professional rugby union has evolved into so much more than an 80-minute slosh in the mud at the weekend. It’s now a process that begins the previous Monday morning.

As well as all the general work to be done on the training pitch and in the weights room, there’s DVDs to be analysed, charts to be drawn and top-secret code sequences to be created.

But when all is said and done, the real work behind everything associated with a team begins in just one square foot of real estate…the noggin of the head coach.

And for me, the most satisfying aspect of Ireland’s slam-denying victory at the Aviva Stadium was that it was clearly the culmination of a superior week’s preparation from Declan Kidney, who totally outfoxed his opposite number.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON OUR SUBSTACK

501 : England v Ireland wrap

21 February 2026; Jamison Gibson-Park of Ireland scores his side’s first try, despite a tackle of England’s Joe Heyes, during the Guinness 6 Nations Rugby Championship match between England and Ireland at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, England. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

🏉 Whiskey, neat

🏉 Leaders in the pack

🏉 Brick wall D

🏉 Super Ulstermen

🏉 Chariots low

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Wayne O’Brien

The type of performance that will put a lot of confidence gas back in the tank

Tom Clarke

Much better performance. Some of the bigger players really stepped up. Have to give Farrell credit. Thought McCloskey was incredible. Jaimo, Joe and Dorris were brilliant too. Don’t think there was a bad performance in fairness.

Greg Kelly

Irelands performance was beautifully summed up by McCloskey running Marcus Smith down like the terminator

Gerald Williamson

Well deserved win by a country mile. The hunger is back in the team and Andy Farrell has shut those “doubting Thomas “.

Richard Collumb

Would never have thought they could do that. Brilliant all round performance (scrum still needs work), but tactically got it spot on vs England and great execution

Christy O’Connor

That performance was long overdue, we can’t pretend there’s still a lot to work on but that’s a huge step in the right direction, hopefully we can build on this now

Gavin Hegarty

Were we that good or were England just that bad? I think we just dominated them into their mistakes. They were rattled from minute one and couldn’t react.

Pollock was nonexistent for them, perhaps he should check his pulse now?

It’d be typical of England now to fire borthwick if they finish fourth. It’d cost them a lot to get rid of him and get someone else in but who would be the contenders?

Chris McDonnell

The difference passing the ball makes.

That’s 2 years in a row we have battered England

Craig Grehan

In farrell we trust.

The things we’ve been working on clicked and went our way.

Oh, and McCloskey is an animal.

Craig Boyd

Great to prove the doubters wrong (including myself). Particularly delighted as an Ulsterman that the Ulster boys have backed up their recent performances #mccloskeyrollingbacktheyears

Bert McLoughlin

The lads were hungry for the win and England didn’t have any answers for it

Eamon Saunders

That complete performance that we have been looking for and what a place to deliver 🇮🇪🇮🇪

John O Halloran

Handy run out for the lads. 😉.

Jokes aside, I had Ireland by 3 to 7 max and I was being very optimistic.

I didn’t see that level of performance coming. A superb response and result.

Barbara Gaffey

Always that extra niggle versus England and proving the naysayers wrong! The pressure worked to our advantage this time and it all finally clicked. Absolute class! 🙌🔥💪

Hywel Davies

Not looking forward to the next match

Tony Doyle

Chariot on fire for the second week in a row

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SIX NATIONS WRAP

Italy 18-15 Scotland  

England 48-7 Wales  

France 36-14 Ireland

Scotland 31–20 England  

Italy 13–20 Ireland  

Wales 12–54 France

England 21-42 Ireland

Wales 23-26 Scotland  

France 33-8 Italy  

Round 4 Fixtures

Fri 6 March

Ireland v Wales 

Sat 7 March

Scotland v France

Italy v England

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CHAT : “IRELAND’S NEXT OPPONENTS”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN 

499 : England v Ireland preview

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND : 15 Jamie Osborne 14 Robert Baloucoune 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Stuart McCloskey 11 James Lowe 10 Jack Crowley 9 Jamison Gibson‑Park  

1 Jeremy Loughman 2 Dan Sheehan 3 Tadhg Furlong 4 Joe McCarthy 5 James Ryan 6 Tadhg Beirne 7 Josh van der Flier 8 Caelan Doris (c)  

16 Ronan Kelleher 17 Tom O’Toole 18 Finlay Bealham 19 Nick Timoney 20 Jack Conan 21 Craig Casey 22 Ciarán Frawley 23 Tommy O’Brien

ENGLAND : 15 Freddie Steward 14 Tommy Freeman 13 Ollie Lawrence 12 Fraser Dingwall 11 Henry Arundell 10 George Ford 9 Alex Mitchell

1 Ellis Genge 2 Luke Cowan‑Dickie 3 Joe Heyes 4 Maro Itoje (c) 5 Ollie Chessum 6 Tom Curry 7 Ben Earl 8 Henry Pollock

16 Jamie George 17 Bevan Rodd 18 Trevor Davison 19 Alex Coles 20 Guy Pepper 21 Sam Underhill 22 Jack van Poortvliet 23 Marcus Smith

Guinness Six Nations 2026 – Round 3

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Twickenham Stadium 

KO 2:15pm

Live on : RTÉ2

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

AR1: Pierre Brousset (FFR)

AR2: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

FPRO: Mike Adamson (SRU)

406 : Ireland v England wrap

2025 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 1, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland 1/2/2025Ireland vs EnglandIrelands Jamison Gibson-Park scores their first tryMandatory Credit ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

🏉  Early worries

🏉  23 lineouts

🏉  That JGP step

🏉  Weary defenders

🏉  Bench impress

THIS WEEK’S GUESTS

CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

HUGO GORDON

FULL TIME TAKES

Kevin Kelehan

Bench was the difference, Conan was clinical, Dan was Dan as only Dan can be Dan, Tom Clarkson stood up to Ellis Genge who is technically intimidating and Jack Crowley kept it simple and flowing. England were value for their lead on 10 mins but their persistent cynical fouling caught up with them. Ireland got out with 5 points, England very lucky to get 1

Hubert Gallagher

Really really good second half except for allowing the last 2 tries. Huge impact from bench. Conan made an immediate impact. Crowley was excellent as well. And Sheehan….was he ever away?

James Lowe has a knack of making something out of nothing so often. Recognise JGPs performance but Lowe must have been very close to MOTM!!

Discipline excellent and mental toughness to the fore.

Onwards to Scotland – they’ll fancy turning us over and it’s never a gimme in Murrayfield. We need to be even tougher there. Will be a very different game – they’re unlike to kick as much ball away and will challenge our defence our wide.

Jackie McEachern

Lineout and discipline much improved from Autumn Internationals. England getting the LBP is disappointing but getting 5 points from an England match is always a great feeling.

Gavin Macarthur

This kind of championship game should be a platform for developing new players, instead of allowing some of the older players to continue their international careers as ‘game-closers’. There are a few players in that category and they need to be cut loose. Anyone who is over the age of 35 is not really going to figure in the next world cup, so why continue to play them?

That said, it was a good test match, giving the squad an opportunity to put their systems and leadership under pressure.

David Ryle

Turning point was their winger not allowing the ball go dead resulting in an Ireland 5m scrum at 44 mins.

Dave Murray

Great second half (except letting England back in for the bonus point) and Dan Sheehan what an impact again along with Lowe back from their injuries.

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MEN’S SIX NATIONS WRAP

NEXT HARPIN’

TUESDAY

BONUS CLIP ON YOUTUBE CHANNEL : “JACK OR SAM (OR TRUST?)”

WEDNESDAY

80+ COLUMN INCLUDING FRONT 5 VIDEO

405 : Ireland v England preview

ALSO AVAILABLE AS A PODCAST

Our guest : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Sam Prendergast 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Rónan Kelleher 3. Finlay Bealham 4. James Ryan 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Ryan Baird 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris (c)

16. Dan Sheehan 17. Cian Healy 18. Thomas Clarkson 19. Iain Henderson 20. Jack Conan 21. Conor Murray 22. Jack Crowley 23. Robbie Henshaw

ENGLAND : 15. Freddie Steward 14. Tommy Freeman 13. Ollie Lawrence 12. Henry Slade 11. Cadan Murley 10. Marcus Smith 9. Alex Mitchell 

1. Ellis Genge 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie 3. Will Stuart 4. Maro Itoje (c) 5. George Martin 6. Tom Curry 7. Ben Curry 8. Ben Earl

16. Theo Dan 17. Fin Baxter 18. Joe Heyes 19. Ollie Chessum 20. Chandler Cunningham-South 21. Tom Willis 22. Harry Randall 23. Fin Smith

Guinness Six Nations 2025 Rd 1

Saturday February 1, 2025

KO 4:45pm  Aviva Stadium

Live on : Virgin Media One

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)

AR1: James Doleman (NZ)

AR2: Hollie Davidson (Sco)

TMO: Glenn Newman (NZ)

FPRO: Richard Kelly (NZ)

327 : England v Ireland wrap

2024 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 4, Twickenham, London, England 9/3/2024England vs Ireland Irelands James Lowe scores a try Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Andrew Fosker

🏉 Straight on back foot

🏉 Somehow ahead

🏉 The Earl Of Twickenham

🏉 Last gasp

🏉 Title still on

THIS WEEK’S GUEST

PÁDRAIG KELLY

FULL TIME TAKES

David Monahan

England had their best game in about 3 years and only beat us by a point. Lads gave everything and just a bit off and that’s what happens. Suppose there is a reason we’ve not seen back to back grand slams in 30 years

Ciara Lennon

Big wake up call for Ireland. England came to play and played the better rugby on the day. They never let Ireland settle. Too many handling errors from Ireland. Too many penalties conceded. I love Peter O Mahony but 2nd yellow card for a captain in one tournament is just not good enough. He needs to get a better example. Should Murray have kicked it away with 90seconds on the clock? Probably not but at thr end of the day, Ireland were just out played

Craig Boyd

In simple terms England should have been out of sight, Ireland in no way deserved the win. That being said they got themselves in a position were they should have won but can’t help but thinking when Murray kicked the ball away with 90 seconds to go that he offered England the perfect opportunity for them to win the game. Did he not trust his forwards to see out 90 seconds?

Jamie Bermingham

So much arrogance from the media in the build up and then after both tries we didn’t put any pressure on them. England came to play rugby and got the win simple as

Big Joe Shep

• England were exceptional today and outplayed us in everything.

• It was a poor day at the office and it happens but as a collective, we didn’t turn up I’m afraid

• An aging Murray with a wasted box-kick in the last embers of the game was woeful buddy!!! Give the ball to your opponents who have dominated the entire game, require only a Pen is NOT what this Ireland team does. I’m afraid he’s way way out of kilter with THIS Ireland team and it ultimately cost us!! 🤷‍♂️😥🏉

• All that said, we lost by 1 Pt and that shows how good we are….. We go again next week and put Scotland to the sword!!!

James Griffin

Far too much talk about how much Ireland would win by during the lead up. And blaming Murray is just provincial shite. He didn’t give away penalties, drop passes, or miss tackles. A little bit of honesty wouldn’t go astray. Wake up call, big time!

Gavin Hegarty

So disappointing. Mainly because it wasn’t how we should play. First four minutes were great but then we dropped off and honestly if England were better they would have put us away. You’d think Murray with his ‘experience’ would know how to close out a game. His box kicking is infuriating yet he still does it to no benefit.

Better team won, we just didn’t show.

Kevin Kelehan

England could have been out of sight after 20 mins, Ireland had the game won around 78 minute but lost it, se la vie. Arsen Wenger spoke of great teams playing badly but winning, thats where Ireland need to get

Colin McConaghie

If people properly analysed the Welsh game this performance was coming. We created very little against a very limited Welsh team and our back line looked one paced and lacking creativity. The Bundee bash it up played straight into Englands hands. It showed on the two occasions we actually passed wide we scored.

Penalty count far too high and poor kicking from Lowe and then Murray gifted easy possession to run back at us and score.

We are still a very good team and will likely win the Championship but the over hype has been embarrassing and we are still far too over reliant on our “first choice” players.

https://twitter.com/KavanaghCk/status/1766558670928679032?s=20

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SIX NATIONS WRAP

ROUND 4

ITALY 31-29 SCOTLAND

ENGLAND 23-22 IRELAND

WALES 24-45 FRANCE

ROUND 5

SAT MAR 16

WALES V ITALY

IRELAND V SCOTLAND

FRANCE V ENGLAND

UNDER 20s

ROUND 4

ITALY 47-14 SCOTLAND

ENGLAND 32-32 IRELAND

WALES 12-45 FRANCE

ROUND 5

FRI MAR 15

IRELAND V SCOTLAND

WALES V ITALY

FRANCE V ENGLAND

HARPIN MATCH WRAPS

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326 : England v Ireland preview

Our guest : CIAN O’MUILLEOIR

IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Calvin Nash 13. Robbie Henshaw 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Jack Crowley 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Joe McCarthy 5. Tadhg Beirne 6. Peter O’Mahony (c) 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Caelan Doris

16. Ronan Kelleher 17. Cian Healy 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Iain Henderson 20. Ryan Baird 21. Jack Conan 22. Conor Murray 23. Ciaran Frawley

ENGLAND : 15. George Furbank 14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso 13. Henry Slade 12. Ollie Lawrence 11. Tommy Freeman 10. George Ford 9. Alex Mitchell

1. Ellis Genge 2. Jamie George (c) 3. Dan Cole 4. Maro Itoje 5. George Martin 6. Ollie Chessum 7. Sam Underhill 8. Ben Earl

16. Theo Dan 17. Joe Marler 18. Will Stuart 19. Chandler Cunningham-South 20. Alex Dombrandt 21. Danny Care  22. Marcus Smith 23. Elliot Daly

Guinness Six Nations 2024 Round 4

Saturday, March 9, 2024

KO 4:45pm  Twickenham

Live on: RTÉ2, ITV1

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)

AR1: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

AR2: Craig Evans (Wales)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

269 : Ireland v England wrap

2023 Bank of Ireland Nations Series, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 19/8/2023 Ireland vs England Ireland’s Keith Earls celebrates scoring a try Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Evan Treacy

🏉 Women’s Interpros

🏉 Slow start at the Aviva

🏉 IRE>ENG in attack & confidence 

🏉 Im-Mack-ulate display

🏉 Fairytale for The Man

OUR GUESTS : TOM COLEMAN & JAY LONG

@harpinonrugby

Lowe’s Left Leg Launcher

♬ Juliana Hyper Techno Rave Mystical – Beat Charger

268 : Harpin’ Preview Show – Ireland v England

also available as podcast

OUR GUEST : NEIL “KEEGO” KEEGAN

www.keegolaughs.com

Apologies Up Front on Apple Podcasts

IRELAND : 15. Hugo Keenan 14. Mack Hansen 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Bundee Aki 11. James Lowe 10. Ross Byrne 9. Jamison Gibson-Park

1. Andrew Porter 2. Dan Sheehan 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Tadhg Beirne 5. James Ryan 6. Peter O’Mahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. Cian Prendergast

16. Rob Herring 17. Jeremy Loughman 18. Finlay Bealham 19. Joe McCarthy 20. Caelan Doris 21. Conor Murray 22. Jack Crowley 23. Keith Earls.

ENGLAND : 15. Freddie Steward 14. Anthony Watson 13. Joe Marchant 12. Manu Tuilagi 11. Elliot Daly 10. George Ford 9. Ben Youngs

1. Ellis Genge 2. Jamie George 3. Will Stuart 4. Maro Itoje 5. David Ribbans 6. Courtney Lawes (C) 7. Ben Earl 8. Billy Vunipola

16. Theo Dan 17. Joe Marler 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Ollie Chessum 20. Jack Willis 21. Danny Care 22. Marcus Smith 23. Ollie Lawrence

Summer Nations Series

Sat August 19 KO 5:30pm

Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Ref: Paul Williams (NZL)

AR1: Craig Evans (WRU)

AR2: Adam Jones (WRU)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

Live on: RTÉ2

267 : RWC2023 all-provincial panel

bonus clip available on our YouTube channel

OUR GUESTS : IAN FRIZZELL, STEPHEN MURPHY & CAOLÁN SCULLY

🏉 Thoughts on Ireland v Italy

🏉 Expectations for remaining warmups

🏉 Quick look at other RWC2023 nations

@harpinonrugby

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