KEY POINTS:
Croke Park is not just the home of Ireland's Gaelic sports, but the scene of Bloody Sunday on November 21, 1920, when British paramilitaries gatecrashed the stadium.
Tipperary were supposed to be playing Dublin. Instead 14 people were killed, including Tipperary captain Mick Hogan. The Irish have memories
that would put elephants to shame. Hence the Hogan Stand.
Yesterday, 87 years after the last English presence there, in the shape of the despised Black and Tans, Brian Ashton's side were given a rugby lesson which will not be easily forgotten.
Those Irishmen who still have direct links, maybe through parents, with the old atrocity will regard the 43-13 Six Nations thumping of the English as Sublime Saturday.
It was the evening when Ireland, after Jonny Wilkinson and Ronan O'Gara traded early penalty kicks, asserted themselves magnificently in front of a packed house of 82,000.
Until Ireland eased down in the second half, England had no response to the manner in which captain Brian O'Driscoll's mere presence inspired his men to exhibit the peak of their powers, physical and visionary. Even before this fourth successive victory over England, one bookmaker was already paying out on an Ireland Triple Crown. Regarded as foolhardiness beforehand; later it had appeared all too obvious.
Ireland channelled passion to their advantage, particularly in a first half which would have had Ashton fearing just what scoreline would materialise.
David Strettle, the England debutant from Quins, received a brutal welcome to test rugby when the powerful Shane Horgan brusquely elbowed him aside. Midway through the first period, the Irish pressure intensified, the result of some scintillating back play. When England did contrive to exploit attacking options, their opponents remained resolute. The tackling was phenomenal.
Two tries before the interval established a superiority from which this England, containing a degree of experience, callow youth, and Andy Farrell, had no answer.
Strettle's second-half try provided personal satisfaction, but was a meagre response and failed to halt O'Driscoll's men, who emerged with further tries to inflict something approaching humiliation on Ashton's men.
It was a team performance but O'Driscoll demonstrated why his absence is as marked as the loss of Martin Johnson for England. Speaking of whom, how England needed a player of his qualities.
Johnson's former England coach Clive Woodward had said, in the prelude to this match, if England could not win here, they will not win the World Cup. One imagines that was the last concern of the present incumbent as Dublin celebrated in traditional fashion.
* Holders France stamped their authority on the Six Nations championship when they beat Wales 32-21 in Paris to make them the only team to win their first three games.
It was a big day, too, for Italy as they secured their first away win since joining the competition seven years ago by beating Scotland 37-17 at Murrayfield, thanks mainly to a three-try blast in the first six minutes.
- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS
