Ireland 29-10 England: Billy Vunipola was dismissed with five Irish tries

England striker Billy Vunipola was sent off as Ireland secured a huge boost ahead of the World Cup by scoring five tries in a comfortable victory.

Vunipola was sent off before Ireland’s third attempted high tackle.

England, who had lost their captain Owen Farrell amid his continuing discipline saga, managed one try late on through Kyle Sinclar.

England’s number 8 Vunipola was shown a yellow card for a challenge on Ireland with Andrew Porter but was promoted to the red after a review, so like his captain Farrell, the striker’s World Cup hopes now hang in the balance.

Vunipola joins Farrell in red card trouble

It was a backlog of the game dominated by the Pharrell saga After the ‘cellar’ red card England were shown against Wales last week, now manager Steve Borthwick risks losing Vunipola too.

With Farrell, who faces an appeal hearing on Tuesday, left out of the squad for Saturday’s game, George Ford gets his chance to shine as a playmaker.

Ford has not started a match for England since 2021, but Sale Sharks fly-half kicked the winning points off the bench against Wales and picked up where they left off in Dublin, sending the visitors ahead with an early penalty.

Ireland, who picked up what Andy Farrell described as a “narrow” win over Italy two weeks ago, have been poor in their opening exchanges despite the manager recovering several of his key players.

But they sprang to life brilliantly in the opening try of the match, with Ake running under the posts after Josh Van der Vlieer’s clever tip-tip sent Peter O’Mahony through the defence.

While Ireland showed clear signs of rust, England managed just one entry to the hosts’ 22 over a disjointed opening half, and Ford also missed a second kick into goal that would have put the visitors within one point.

The end of the first half brought mixed feelings to Ireland. While the sight of limping hooker Dan Sheehan would be a concern given Ronan Keeler’s recent lack of availability, the hosts managed to extend their lead in first-half extra time through a Ringrose try.

It was also good, with Hugo Keenan, Cian Prendergast and O’Mahony all involved before Mack Hansen sliced ​​through the middle with a perfect cross, enabling Ringrose to parry a pair of last-ditch tackles and move Ireland up nine before that. Stop.

Ireland thrives as England withers

After a mediocre start to the second half, things went from bad to worse for England, who failed to build on last week’s win over Wales.

With Vunipola off the field, Ireland immediately pressed England and their efforts resulted in a third try when Ross Byrne sent a wide pass to Lowe, who initiated the move.

Immediately after Byrne missed his conversion, Finnebula’s yellow was upgraded to red by the cellar review system to deepen England’s troubles in Dublin.

Ireland extended their lead through an impressive Hansen, and while Sinclar was back in the England squad, there was a fantastical moment for Earls.

Munster returned from the bench to become Ireland’s centurion and put the finishing touches to a comfortable victory when he smashed to celebrate his 100th shirt in grand fashion and drew the loudest roar of the evening from the Aviva crowd.

Having secured a 12th consecutive Test win, Ireland will be aiming for a clean win in their warm-up match when they take on Samoa in Bayonne next week.

England, meanwhile, will anxiously await the outcome of Farrell’s appeal hearing on Tuesday before Vunipola’s fate is decided.

line up

Ireland: Keenan. Hansen, Ringrose, Aki, Louie; Byrne, Gibson Park; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Byrne, Ryan (captain), O’Mahony, Van der Vlaer, Prendergast.

Alternatives: Herring, Loughman, Pelham, McCarthy, Doris, Murray, Crowley, Earls.

England: Air hostess. Watson, Marchant; Tuilagi, Daly; Ford, Youngs. Genji, George, Stewart, Etogi, Raybans, Luz (Capt), Earl, P. Funipola.

Alternatives: Dunn, Marler, Sinclair, Chisum, Willis, Kerr, Smith, Lawrence.

to rule: Paul Williams (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: Craig Evans (WRU) and Adam Jones (WRU)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)