Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne, Dan Sheehan score tries from Ireland as they fight back from half-time deficit to beat England at Aviva Stadium in Six Nations opener; Cadan Murley scored when England were on top, but they fell 27-10 down in second half before late rally

Ireland began their Six Nations title defence and run at a historic three-peat with a vital win over England

Ireland recovered from a half-time deficit to overpower England in the second half and win 27-22 in their Six Nations opener on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium. 

England had started the contest superbly and deservedly led 10-5 at the break courtesy of a try on debut from wing Cadan Murley and the boot of Marcus Smith.

The hosts were much improved in the second period, though, dictating the majority of the play to force Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne and Dan Sheehan tries – adding to Jamison Gibson-Park’s in the first half to secure a bonus-point win.

England could only register second-half points in the 76th minute and past the 80 through Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman tries – securing themselves a losing bonus-point – with the victory unique in that it proved the first time since 1983 either side came from behind at the break to secure a win in the championship.

Bundee Aki was among three Irish try scorers in the second half as they fought back to beat England in Dublin

England made by far the brighter start in the contest as Smith scythed through for an early break to display both his electric ability and Ireland’s disorganisation.

In the ninth minute, Murley sprinted down the left wing to reach Henry Slade’s clever grubber-kick forward for the opening score, with Smith converting superbly.

Calan Murley scored the first try of the game on his Test debut

Ireland awoke from their slumber thereafter to put England under pressure, forcing a concession of penalties from the visitors and a warning to captain Maro Itoje by referee Ben O’Keeffe.

In the very next attack hooker Ronan Kelleher seemed to dive over for Ireland’s first try, but TMO Glenn Newman ruled out the score on review for holding on Itoje by James Ryan – an action which stopped the England lock moving into the space to defend.

Beirne halted England’s next big chance with a trademark breakdown turnover, but the 25th minute saw the away side reduced to 14 players for 10 minutes as Smith was penalised for repeat team penalties having been caught offside following a monster Ryan Baird break.

Marcus Smith and England started the contest well on top, but he was then sin-binned after a flurry of team penalties

Yet, Ireland’s play for the subsequent 10 minutes proved frantic and flustered, as three times they created bright openings but failed to take them, with Sam Prendergast visibly struggling in the No 10 jersey to produce positive play.

In Ireland’s final attack vs 14 they did make a breakthrough, though, as wing James Lowe made a superb break down the left, shrugging off the attentions of England scrum-half Alex Mitchell and offloading inside for Gibson-Park to score.

Jamison Gibson-Park responded with a first-half try for an out-of-sorts Ireland

Prendergast’s conversion miss left Ireland two adrift, while Smith tacked on three more points just before half-time when Josh van der Flier was penalised for falling on the wrong side after No 8 Ben Earl made a pacy run.

Much of the second half belonged to Ireland as they looked far more like their former selves.

Sustained spells of pressure eventually gave way to a wonderful Aki score in the corner on 52 minutes, showing his power and pace to batter his way past Smith and finish.

Prendergast landed a long-range penalty for the lead within four minutes, and the win was all-but secured when lock Beirne collected a Lowe pass after the latter had split through the England defensive line to score with 16 minutes to play.

Tadhg Beirne scored Ireland’s killer third try to move well beyond England in the second half

Replacement hooker Sheehan – only just back from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury suffered in the summer – then scored a fabulous fourth try after combining with Lowe as England had no answer.

Dan Sheehan notched Ireland’s try bonus-point with eight minutes to play

With the score 27-10, England did show heart to force two very late tries through Curry and Freeman and leave with a bonus point, but must bounce back quickly ahead of facing France at Twickenham next week.

Itoje: England crucially lost territory battle in second half; Losing bonus-point could matter

England captain Maro Itoje speaking to ITV:

“The first half was fantastic, [we did] pretty much everything we wanted to do. Second half we lost territory and struggled to exit.

“We needed to consistently control territory better throughout the game.

England captain Maro Itoje bemoaned his side’s lack of second half territory in the game

“It’s hard to dissect exactly what the reasons are at this point. But it was a territory thing, we weren’t able to exit our half as efficiently as we would like.

“This is a tight competition and every point matters. I’m proud the team for not giving in and play until the end.”

What’s next?

Ireland travel to face Scotland at Murrayfield next Sunday (3pm) in the second round of the 2025 Six Nations, while England host France at Twickenham on the Saturday (4.45pm).

British & Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports

Watch the Lions tour of Australia live on Sky Sports in 2025

Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.

Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app – giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Stream the EFL, Test cricket and more top sport with NOW.