England’s Grand Slam dreams were smashed to smithereens in a 24-8 defeat at the hands of a relentless Ireland team led by a magnificent performance from fly-half Jonathan Sexton.
Ireland were simply superb as England were woeful and the visitors had no answers for the hosts’ intensity that lasted from the first minute to the last.
Leinster’s Sexton more than justified his inclusion ahead of Ronan O’Gara in the starting XV by kicking 12 first-half points as well as creating the game’s opening try for Tommy Bowe to give Ireland a 17-3 advantage at halftime.
The one-way traffic continued after the break as captain Brian O’Driscoll took himself ahead of Scotland’s Ian Smith as the Championship’s all-time leading scorer with his 25th tournament touchdown early in the second half.
Replacement Steve Thompson’s try was scant consolation for England whose title hopes were left in the hands of France who need to stop Wales winning by less than 26 points.
Ireland won an early psychological advantage by halting a promising England attack before sending the red rose scrum shuntering backwards.
Their reward for a bright start was a penalty in front of the posts for an English offside and Sexton duly dissected the posts with his kick.
An error-strewn opening 15 minutes continued to get deteriorate for the visitors as Sexton punished winger Chris Ashton’s high tackle on him with a second penalty.
It could have been a whole lot worse for England when O’Driscoll had a try ruled out for a forward pass from Bowe but advantage was being played which Sexton kicked to make it 9-0.
Even when England did have the opportunity to get on the board shortly afterwards Toby Flood could only hook his kick well wide while injured lock Tom Palmer had to be replaced by Simon Shaw.
And they were soon staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat when Bowe struck on 28 minutes.
Locks Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan did superbly to seize on yet another England error before kicking the ball deep into the visitors’ territory.
Although full-back Ben Foden was able to clear his lines, Jamie Heaslip led the counter charge leading England to be pinged for offside.
Sexton took a quick tap penalty and with England’s defensive line in disarray, the fly-half fed Bowe out wide to apply the coup de grace. Sexton missed the conversion.
Flood finally did get England’s afternoon underway with a long-range penalty but it could not put a brake on Ireland’s runaway momentum.
Just before the break flanker David Wallace found himself in the clear down the left and although he was bundled out of play, referee Bryce Lawrence spotted scrum-half Youngs throwing the ball into the crowd and duly administered a yellow card.
To rub salt in the wounds Sexton added a penalty to take Ireland 17-3 clear and suddenly the impossible 42-point swing needed for Wales to win the Championship seemed all too real for the red rose.
Even the fury of Martin Johnson in the dressing room would have been welcomed as respite for an England team that had just been obliterated in the opening forty minutes.
Whatever words administered by the England coaching staff at the break, they did not change the ebb and flow of the game.
And the only surprise in Ireland’s second try was that it took seven minutes to arrive while England were still a man down.
Even with their full complement of players, England were caught short on the left and although O’Callaghan was hauled down, O’Driscoll was on hand to finally secure his place in the history books with a try that no official would dare overrule. Sexton added the conversion.
That prompted Johnson to make a raft of changes and one of those replacements Thompson got England back into game with a sharp piece of opportunism.
Ireland won possession from a lineout but scrum-half Eoin Reddan’s pass was picked off with ease by the hooker and he had the gas to motor in.
Fellow replacement Jonny Wilkinson missed the conversion to leave England still trailing 24-8 down.
There was precious little threat from England in the closing stages leaving plenty of time for the majority packed into the Aviva Stadium to saviour a famous victory while the visitors’ thoughts turned to events in Paris.