Ireland Women 7-34 England Women
Ireland's Grand Slam hopes went up in smoke at Donnybrook Stadium as a powerful English side steamrolled their way to victory and the championship.
The visitors ran in four second half tries to claim the Six Nations and a Grand Slam and left Ireland in no doubt as to the gap between the sides ahead of this year's World Cup on these shores.
Tom Tierney's team knew they were up against it, even on their own patch, and they were quickly on the back foot as they played into a strong wind in the opening half.
England spent long periods in the Irish 22, and were rewarded with Amy Wilson-Hardy's 16th-minute try from a fine pass by the classy Emily Scarratt.
England continued to press the Irish line, but some excellent defending from the likes of Alison Miller and Jenny Murphy and Irish dominance at the scrum and lineout kept the white tide at bay until the hosts began to get a foothold in the game.
Ireland twice went close to levelling matters as the first half came to a close, with first Sene Naoupu alost crossing the whitewash and then captain Paula Fitzpatrick held up over the line. Ireland's scrum superiority evaporated at the crucial moment, however, and England escaped to the dressing-room 5-0 to the good.
Facing the elements seemed set to rattle the English on the turnaround and Ireland again pushed for that vital score but a couple of handling errors proved costly, and England marched down the field and replacement prop Laura Keates put daylight between the teams, diving over from close range.
Scarratt kicked England 13-0 ahead when substitute full-back Mairead Coyne was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, and England seized upon the opportunity to put the game beyond doubt when hooker Amy Cokayne finished off a flowing move with 20 minutes still to play.
Cokayne's opposite number Leah Lyons gave Ireland a glimmer of hope when she forced her way over the line at the end of a long Irish attack to cut the deficit to 20-7, but England took advantage of tiring Irish legs to hit back with late scores for Scarratt and Lydia Thompson.
"Unfortunately we lost to a very very good English team," Irish head coach Tom Tierney told RTÉ Sport. "We can have no complaints but we didn't perform tonight.
"Five-nil down at half-time playing into the wind was very pleasing, we weathered the storm and put in a lot big tackles and that unfortunately took its toll in the second half."
Tom Tierney had no complaints after side fell to England at Donnybrook Stadium #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/b5G5LVccLw
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) March 17, 2017
