Ireland suffered humiliating record defeat at the hands of England, conceding eight tries in the sun of Twickenham this afternoon.

The lineout seriously malfunctioned – as it has all season – recording only a 56% success rate, far from the targets a professional outfit should be hitting.

Despite this, Ireland made a decent start. Jordan Larmour scored after Iain Henderson won the ball off George Kruis from the lineout. The bounce of the ball off a Jacob Stockdale kick fell kindly to the Leinster man who dotted down.

Then the nightmare began.

England put the long awaited Ford-Farrell combination to work with an excellent dummy line from Manu Tuilagi leaving Garry Ringrose stationary and providing an easy run in for Bath’s Joe Cokanasiga.

Ross Byrne added penalty for Ireland after a turnover from Henderson before Elliot Daly crossed for England’s second just before the half hour mark. Tuilagi added England’s third try after another mix up in defence.

Another misfiring lineout contributed to another England try. Rory Best couldn’t find Henderson with Maro Itoje capitalising and powering through several phases later after a pop pass from Ben Youngs.

Tries five and six followed 15 minutes into the second half thanks to George Kruis and a second from Tom Curry. Cokanasiga added his second with 15 minutes left of the match as England raced towards a record victory against Ireland. Replacement Luke Cowan-Dickie confirmed the record score with the final try.

Bar the opening ten minutes, Ireland had a truly forgettable afternoon at Twickenham. In defence, it was unorganised and a shadow from their 2018 form. Owen Farrell, ably assisted George Ford and Tuilagi, ripped through his father’s defence like a hot knife through butter. Communication was lacking in every facet of the game and this lead to the hammering that they got.

Cian Healy‘s ankle sprain and Conor Murray‘s head injury contributed to the horror show. 

Hopes of a successful World Cup look distant, while the prospect of another 2007 campaign is looming. Next up Ireland face Wales at the Principality Stadium in their third of four warm up games next Saturday.