Ireland capped a perfect Six Nations with their third ever Grand Slam as Jacob Stockdale marked a historic victory over England at Twickenham with a record-breaking try of his own.
Three first-half tries -- all referred to the TMO -- gave Ireland an insurmountable lead and Stockdale's brilliant try just before half-time was his seventh of the campaign, the most ever by one player in a single season of the tournament.
The defeat for England was their third in a row and their first at Twickenham in the Eddie Jones era as the pressure continues to build on the head coach, who had won back-to-back Six Nations in his first two seasons.
Ireland got off to the perfect start when Anthony Watson could not deal with a high ball under pressure from Rob Kearney, and Garry Ringrose was the first to react as he pounced on the bouncing ball for the first try of the match.
It was the first of three first-half tries for the Irish, all of which required a TMO referral before being confirmed.
The second was less disputable, as Bundee Aki supplied CJ Stander after a superb Irish break and the No. 8 managed to ground the ball against the base of the post protector.
England were in disarray at that point, but they were aided by some Irish indiscipline at the other end. First, Aki was lucky to escape without greater punishment than a penalty for leading with a shoulder in a tackle, then Peter O'Mahony was yellow-carded for collapsing a maul. That could have been worse for Ireland had the referee determined it was a penalty try, but that decision only delayed England's first score of the game, as Owen Farrell produced a sublime kick behind the Irish defence for Elliot Daly to run on to.
England had deepened the dead-ball areas at either end by two metres, allowing for exactly that kind of tactic from Farrell. However, it backfired to spectacular effect as time expired in the first half.
With the 40 minutes up, Ireland decided to keep attacking rather than boot the ball into touch and it paid off handsomely when Jacob Stockdale burst down the left flank. His sublime kick over the top was matched by some luck as the ball bounced off his knees, splitting the tacklers Mike Brown and Jonny May and leaving Stockdale to chase the ball as it bounced towards the back of the dead-ball area.
His dive and touch down was brilliant -- but it would have come to naught if the field dimensions had been kept to the size they had been when Wales visited Twickenham in February.
Instead, Ireland went into half-time leading 21-5, and Stockdale took with him a new tournament record for tries in a season with seven.
The third quarter of the match was one of attrition, with the best chance coming for Ireland when Jordan Larmour burst away on the right with Keith Earls outside him, but good English defensive cover thwarted the opportunity. The play went back to an earlier penalty, and Conor Murray slotted the kick to extend Ireland's lead to 19 with 20 minutes to play.
England refused to give in, and they scored their second try of the match when George Ford fed Mike Brown and his brilliant off-load out of the back of one hand allowed Daly to score his second try of the match. However, Farrell's conversion was wide and England still needed two converted try with 14 minutes remaining.
A mistake by Daly in defence allowed Keith Earls to pounce on a loose ball, and after Ireland recycled it, Stockdale was almost away again for what would have been his eighth try of the Six Nations season. However, he was dragged into touch, but most importantly the clock was ticking ever closer to 80 minutes.
Shortly after, a penalty in front of the posts around 45 metres out allowed Joey Carberry to have a pop at goal, but his effort was slightly left of the posts.
Brown came within a fraction of touching down in the corner, but he had been put in touch by excellent Irish defending, before May scored on the final play of the game. It made no difference to the most important statistic, though -- Ireland had won their third Grand Slam.
