Ireland still in race after bizarre win over 14-man England

Ireland's Guinness Six Nations championship hopes remain alive and well after beating 14-man England 32-15 at Twickenham.

If ever a scoreline told a lie about the story of a game then this was it.

Good for the opening 10 minutes and poor almost beyond belief for the next hour against an England side who had seen Charlie Ewels sent off for a high tackle on James Ryan in the second minute, Andy Farrell’s men somehow found a way to win by scoring 14 unanswered points in the last 14 minutes.

It was a crazy result from a crazy game where Ireland conceded 15 penalties to England eight but tries from James Lowe, Hugo Keenan, Jack Conan and Finlay Bealham proved the difference.

Penalised six times at the scrum, it brought back memories of the 2012 game here when Ireland lost prop Mike Ross to an early injury and the pack suffered a nightmare evening.

But this time Eddie Jones’ men, who looked to have all the trump cards when Marcus Smith levelled the game with 20 minutes to play, just couldn’t keep up with the pace of the Irish replacements, for whom Rob Herring and Robbie Henshaw stood out.

The result means England are out of the race and Ireland can still get their hands on a first championship since 2018 if they beat Scotland and France lose next Saturday.

After just 82 seconds, England are down to 14 men. Charlie Ewels receives a red card for this challenge on James Ryan.