Owen Farrell takes family bragging rights as England stroll to 24-12 Ireland win

Only one Farrell left London smiling and it wasn't the Irish head coach, who saw his side blown away from start to finish by Eddie Jones' rampant Red Rose outfit.

This Six Nations clash was the first time the pair have been in opposition since Farrell snr had taken charge of the Irish in the Autumn.

But it wasn't a fair fight, with England captain Owen Farrell leading his men on an afternoon stroll to deny the Irish a Triple Crown and keep alive their own hopes of winning the championship.

England have only lost seven home games in Six Nations history and although four of these have been to the Irish, there was never a remote danger of the visitors making it five.

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While Jones' World Cup finalists were ruthless and relentless, the Irish gifted them possession and points in what was one of their worst performances in recent memory.

If something could go wrong it did do – and Farrell looked on in horror as his Irish rabble resembled a team that had been cobbled together from the amatuer leagues 24 hours earlier.

England had almost 70 per cent of the ball in the first half and took just eight minutes to go ahead when Johnny Sexton made a complete hash of Ben Youngs' grubber kick through.

All Sexton had to do was flop on the ball behind his own goal line, but he fumbled it instead and allowed George Ford the simplest of tries which Farrell converted.

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Sexton was named 'World Player of the Year' as recently as 2018, but appeared to have put his boots on the wrong feet as a living nightmare unfolded for the fly half.

His humiliation continued on 14 minutes when he missed a simple penalty in front of the posts, before losing a boot and slipping on his backside after deciding to play on in his sock.

Sexton's buffoonery seemed to be affecting those around him and things went from bad to much worse on 25 minutes when Ford's chip behind the Irish defence was not dealt with by Jacob Stockdale, allowing Elliot Daly to touch down for England's second try.

Farrell added the conversion and a penalty to see England head into the break with a commanding 17-0 lead.

England's defence had looked impenetrable until Robbie Henshaw burst through Farrell and Tom Curry to go over and offer the Irish a glimmer of hope 10 minutes into the second half.

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But Sexton missed the conversion as his shanks continued and England's forwards, led superbly by Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes, winning his 84th cap on his birthday to equal the record of World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson, turned the screw.

Twice the England pack destroyed Ireland's scrum and reduced it to rubble to outline their total dominance, before Luke Cowan-Dickie powered over from close range with Farrell adding the conversion to make it 24-5. Andrew Porter scored for the Irish in stoppage time, with John Cooney adding the conversion – but it wasn't even close to being a consolation.

ENGLAND: Daly 7, May 8, Tuilagi 9 (Slade 74), Farrell 7, Joseph 8, Ford 7, Youngs 8 (Heinz 58); Marler 7 (Genge 58, 7), George 7 (Cowan-Dickie 52, 7), Sinckler 8 (Stuart 69, 7), Itoje 8, Kruis 7 (Launchbury 58, 7), Lawes 8 (Ewels 58, 7), Underhill 7, Curry 8 (Earl 66, 7).

IRELAND: Larmour 6 (Earls 64, 7), Conway 6, Henshaw 7, Aki 6, Stockdale 6, Sexton 3, Murray 5 (Cooney 55, 6); Healy 6 (Kilcoyne 26, 6), Herring 6 (Kelleher 61), Furlong 5 (Porter 58, 6), Toner 5 (Dillane 61, 6), Ryan 7, O'Mahony 6, van der Flier 6 (Doris 61, 6), Stander 6. Subs: Byrne.

REFEREE: Jaco Peyper (South Africa). 7

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