A magnificent riposte after the disappointment of Wales, Ireland conjured a performance of rare quality, bearing favourable comparison to the best there has been at the under-21 age group. The scoreline suggests that victory was achieved in a facile manner, but that would be misleading.
England began this under-21 international at Templeville Road intent on crushing their opponents up front and for 20 minutes it appeared they might realise that objective. During this period Ireland proved wonderfully obdurate in defence as wave after wave of English attacks foundered, often within the shadow of the Irish posts.
The conviction of the tackling left England exasperated and this manifested itself in one all-embracing fight from which English flanker Lewis Moody was fortunate to escape censure. Galvanised by the frustration of their opponents, Ireland gradually introduced some authority and direction to their play, maximising the return from occasional forays into their opponents' 22 with two penalties from full back Geordan Murphy.
It really would be churlish to single out individuals from what was collectively a monumental team display but out-half Jeremy Staunton, the outstanding Richard Woods and Robert Casey offered towering performances. Several others were not far behind, not least Marcus Horan, Leo Cullen, Peter Smyth and Mick O'Driscoll.
Ireland grabbed their first try on 31 minutes through Blackrock College wing Tom Keating. The hard-working John Campbell set up a ruck in the 22, Stringer moved the ball to the blindside and Staunton glided through a gap, timing his pass to Keating beautifully.
The interval offered the visitors a brief respite as Ireland resumed with great assurance. Casey won a line-out, Staunton accelerated through a half gap and was stopped on the line. Ireland conceded a penalty from the scrum but England's good fortune would not last long. On 48 minutes, Cullen set up a ruck in the 22 and when the ball came back Casey demonstrated great vision and awareness to move the ball on intelligently with the excellent Paul Neville and Staunton allowing O'Driscoll to crash through the last tackle.
As one would expect, the English tried to salvage something and were rewarded when Rob Thirlby scored a fine individual try which he could not improve upon. Ireland's focus returned, Simon Best was introduced for Campbell and a tiring English pack began to buckle.
On 70 minutes the home side produced a power play, literally. England were awarded a five-metre scrum, but for the second time in as many minutes, the Irish eight shunted them backwards.
As England trundled back over their own line, Stringer pounced diving on the ball for a clever score. Murphy kicked a superb conversion to embellish a famous victory, a fifth successive success over England at this level.
Scoring sequence: 12 mins: Murphy penalty, 3-0; 24: Murphy penalty, 6-0; 31: Keating try, 11-0. 48: O'Driscoll try, 16-0; 64: Thirlby try, 165; 70: Stringer try, Murphy conversion, 23-5.
Ireland: G Murphy (Leicester); D Quinlan (Blackrock), K Hartigan (Garryowen), B O'Driscoll (UCD), T Keating (Blackrock); J Staunton (Garryowen), P Stringer (UCC); M Horan (Shannon), P Smyth (St Mary's), J Campbell (Terenure); M O'Driscoll (UCC), R Casey (Blackrock); P Neville (Old Crescent), L Cullen (Blackrock, capt), R Woods (Dublin University). Replacements: S Best (Newcastle) for Campbell (63 mins); D O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution) for Neville (76 mins).
England: I Balshaw (Bath); R Thirlby (Saracens), B Johnston (Saracens), M Tindall (Bath), L Best (Richmond); D Walder (Durham University), P Richards (London Irish); D Flatman (Saracens), S Walter (Northampton), J Dawson (Saracens); S Borthwick (Bath), A Brown (Pontypool); A Sanderson (Sale, capt), A Balding (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester). Replacements: J Pritchard (Bristol) for Walder (29 mins); M Ward (Newcastle) for Flatman (half-time); J Rule (Newcastle) for Brown, J Bramhall (Northampton) for Richards (both 49 mins); M Walker (Rotherham) for Balshaw (56 mins).
Referee: H Lewis (Wales).
