Six Nations | Ireland overcome England 27-22 in Dublin

Ireland have beaten England 27-22 at the Aviva Stadium in the first round of the 2025 Guinness Six Nations.

England plundered the first try of the match when debutant Cadan Murley crossed the whitewash in the eighth minute after a clever dink from Henry Slade down England's left wing. Marcus Smith converted to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.

Man of the match Jamison Gibson-Park scored Ireland's first try in the 35th minute, but Sam Prendergast missed the chance to draw Ireland level from the resulting conversion.

A penalty from Smith on the stroke of half time made it 10-5 to England at the break, but Bundee Aki drew Ireland level with a 51st-minute try. Prendergast missed his conversion again, but nudged Ireland in front with a penalty three minutes later.

Tadgh Beirne recorded Ireland's third try in the 63rd minute, which substitute Jack Crowley converted to give Simon Easterby's hosts a 20-10 lead in Dublin.

Dan Sheehan's try nine minutes from time put the game beyond doubt. Crowley adding his second conversion to further extend Ireland's lead.

England hit back late on, with Tom Curry applying the finish to a good move involving Lawrence and Murley. Tommy Freeman ran in for a stoppage-time try to earn England a losing bonus point. Smith converted with the last kick of the game to reduce Ireland's winning margin to five points.

"We made substitutions at the right time," Easterby told Virgin Media afterwards.

"It's tough, a Six Nations opening game, it's not going to be easy, we had to grind it out. We would have taken large chunk of that performance before the game and the result."

Match report

Mick Hansen took an early knock and was replaced by Robbie Henshaw as a blood sub just four minutes into the clash in Dublin.

Ireland looked to hit back immediately after Murley's early try, forcing a 13th-minute penalty, which Sam Prendergast kicked to the corner. This led to a period of sustained pressure, with James Lowe being stopped a metre short of the try-line before England conceded another penalty.

Ronan Kelleher thought he'd scored Ireland's first try a minute later after a tap penalty, only for a TMO review to rule that Tadhg Beirne had obstructed England captain Maro Itoje in the ruck in the buildup. England were temporarily reduced to 14 men when out-half Smith was sent to the sin-bin in the 25th minute for an offside.

Ireland finally broke through the resilient English defence in the 35th minute, when Lowe showed his pace and power to drive past Alex Mitchell down the wing and pop the ball inside for Gibson-Park to make it 7-5.

Smith, back on the pitch after his yellow card, extended the away side's lead to five points with a 40th-minute penalty after Ireland were penalised for an offside. England led 10-5 at the break. Ireland boasted 55% of the possession at the interval, and were having joy at the line-out, winning 12/12 as Kelleher in particular impressed for the men in green.

Easterby, however, will have been frustrated by his team's 15 handling errors in the first half. The interim head coach introduced Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan for Kelleher and Ryan Baird in the 50th minute, and Ireland scored their second try a minute later.

Prendergast threw the ball out wide to Aki, who still had plenty to do. The Connacht star drove past a trio of England defenders to draw Ireland level. Prendergast got his conversion wrong again, leaving the scores at 10-10. Itoje was then penalised for a foul on Conan, and Prendergast notched his first points of the tournament from the resulting penalty.

Henshaw replaced Aki in the 58th minute, and Crowley replaced Prendergast a minute later. England head coach Steve Borthwick introduced Tom Willis and Theo Dan for Ben Earl and Luke Cowan-Dickie.

Beirne scored Ireland's third try in the 64th minute, running over after great work from Gibson-Park and Lowe. Crowley converted. Lowe provided another assist for Sheehan's try, the hooker applying the finish on the stretch. Crowley converted once again.

England's late flurry saw them register two late tries, but it was too little too late as Ireland made the perfect start to their Six Nations title defence in Dublin.

Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (C).

Replacements: Dan Sheehan (for Kelleher, 48), Cian Healy (for Porter, 74), Thomas Clarkson (for Bealham, 58), Iain Henderson (for Ryan, 61), Jack Conan (for Baird, 48), Conor Murray (for Gibson-Park, 74), Jack Crowley (for Prendergast, 58), Robbie Henshaw (for Hansen, 4-16 [blood] and for Aki, 57).

England: Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Cadan Murley; Marcus Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart; Maro Itoje (C), George Martin; Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Ben Earl.

Replacements: Theo Dan, Fin Baxter (for Genge, 70), Joe Heyes (for Stuart, 37-41 [HIA], 48-59) and 70), Ollie Chessum (for Martin, 59), Chandler Cunningham-South (for Ben Curry, 59), Tom Willis, Harry Randall (for Mitchell, 63), Fin Smith (for Steward, 63).