Ireland v England Grand Slam Decider 2023

England were very good in parts and sloppy in others. Credit to them for getting upto pitch despite lacking a cohesive and drilled attack, their defence was shown up last week but as good as it's been all tournament this week.

I worried that if England upped their game and Ireland weren't on top of theirs that we might have struggled but that didn't really transpire. England upped their game and Ireland were not at the top of theirs but we limited their scoring opportunities when they had real momentum, we created and subsequently coughed up plenty of scoring opportunities ourselves but were just clinical enough to put the game out of reach by the final quarter.

Lot's of people discussing the various turning points but for me it was the Jamie George try. England were absolutely spent by the time that went over, they had no energy or lift off the back of that score and walked away breathless and subdued. They'd answered the worst of their critics but the tank was empty and the confidence we'd started to build when we stretched to 24-9 was never reigned in.

Interesting that three of our tries this weekend were scored by our hookers when just last week we spent a considerable amount of time with no hookers on the pitch. Have heard criticisms of the atmosphere for the second time this tournament but again, hearing the exact opposite from anyone I know that was there. Huge ovation for Sexton when he came off which is well deserved in his six nations swansong and a big credit to the English team, not only did they have their best six nations performance yesterday but they showed a very great deal of class at full time.

If I was in charge of officiating I'd have given a yellow to Steward. I can accept the line of logic that resulted in the red but to me it was unfortunate, maybe a bit clumsy but mitigated sufficiently to reduce the sanction. Player safety is the out and out priority so I tend not to contest these calls but I thought Keenan was dipped enough and Steward passive enough that the sanction should have been reduced.

It doesn't tarnish the result for me either way - Ireland were in control in the final 20 and one player wouldn't have made the difference.

Won't go into individual performances as we've just won a tournament and yesterday was the culmination of that effort. The coaching ticket on the other hand absolutely deserve singling out. Am always mindful that Andy Farrell played against Ireland on a very significant day not only for Irish rugby but for the country itself. In 2007 England came to play Ireland in Croke park after much discussion and debate about whether that was acceptable and how it would be received. It was an occasion that I've always been proud of in that Irish supporters demonstrated intense passion and matched it with maturity and a respect direct both inward and outward.

We absolutely annihilated England that day and yet their starting inside centre is now the devoted leader of the Irish rugby team. He's rapidly becoming the Jackie Charlton of Irish rugby and I hope the same enthusiasm surrounds him going into 'France 23. We all had our doubts about Mike Catt but Ireland is now one of the best attacking sides in the World and Paul O'Connell's introduction coincided with this team becoming a force in the way that Irish rugby has never been but Paul O'Connell always was.

Great win, have enjoyed every minute of it.

Sexton > Rog

(sorry)