England head coach Steve Borthwick hopes for swift disciplinary resolutions after Billy Vunipola joined Owen Farrell as a World Cup doubt following his dismissal in a damaging 29-10 defeat to Ireland.
Captain Farrell watched from the stands in Dublin as England slipped to a meek loss compounded by the second-half red card of Saracens team-mate Vunipola for ploughing into the head of Andrew Porter.
Influential fly-half Farrell was free to feature in the warm-up game but was ultimately left out following World Rugby’s appeal against the decision to overturn the red card he received in last weekend’s win over Wales.
With England’s World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9 fast approaching, Borthwick faces potentially being without two of his key men through suspension for the start of the tournament in France.
He was tight-lipped on Vunipola’s tackle, but is eager for matters to be concluded quickly on the back of the disruption already caused by the ongoing Farrell saga.
“I’m not going to comment upon the incident specifically because it goes into a disciplinary process this coming week,” said Borthwick.
“Probably as every England fan, I feel disappointment in the game today and I said beforehand we want 15 players on the pitch for 80 minutes of every game.
“You’re playing the number one ranked side in the world in their stadium and to go to 14 men it becomes a very difficult task at that point in time
“Hopefully we will find a conclusion on both matters this week and it won’t go into another week. Once I have all the facts, I will deal with them.
“We talked about the way this Test week was disrupted (by the Farrell situation) and I need to adapt throughout the week. It’s another challenge that’s been thrown at us.”
England offered little at the Aviva Stadium, even before falling a man down when Vunipola’s 53rd-minute sin-binning was upgraded to a red on review.
Tries from centres Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose gave Ireland control at the break, before scores from James Lowe, Mack Hansen and Keith Earls sealed a comprehensive victory.
Replacement prop Kyle Sinckler crossed for England, but it was scant consolation on a difficult evening when stuttering World Cup preparations were thrown into further disarray.
“Whilst I’m incredibly disappointed with the result, the players kept fighting,” said Borthwick.
“I thought the players that came off the bench added on the pitch.
“Just before half-time at 7-3, we missed some opportunities and turned over ball in the final third, so we weren’t able to put enough pressure on them.
“When it was 15 against 15 it was a tight battle, unfortunately it didn’t stay 15 on 15.”
Ireland retained their place at the top of the world rankings courtesy of a 12th successive win.
Earls stepped off the bench to mark his 100th cap in style with his 36th international try as the hosts overcame a disjointed opening period.
Head coach Andy Farrell said: “It had a bit of everything: good, bad and ugly.
“I wasn’t too happy at half-time. We had them in a place where we could push a little bit harder and make it a little bit easier for ourselves but we didn’t kick on.
“I was really pleased that we found or rhythm back into the game. I thought we scored some great tries.
“Obviously the story of the day is it’s very fitting that Keith gets his 100th cap and we made sure he does that with a W and also him scoring a try in Keith Earls style in the corner just made the day for everyone really.”
Hooker Dan Sheehan limped off shortly before half-time, with Farrell waiting to discover the extent of that issue.
“Dan’s lost a bit of power in his foot,” he said. “We won’t know until we get it scanned. We’ll probably know more in the morning.”
'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.
The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.
Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation.
"We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.
"We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.
"They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.
"Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.
"There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.
"We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."
South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
England dominate Sri Lanka after Atkinson's maiden Test century
England ended day two of the second Test versus Sri Lanka with a commanding 256-run lead, having skittled the tourists for 196 off the back of Gus Atkinson's century.
Joe Root's record-equalling 33rd red-ball century had ensured England ended a difficult opening day with a chance to build a commanding lead, and they did just that early on as Atkinson took centre-stage.
Resuming at 74 not out, Atkinson brought up his maiden Test century with a fine drive past mid-on shortly before lunch, eventually ending his knock with 14 fours and four sixes.
He would later fall for 118 to the outstanding Asitha Fernando, who then completed a five-for by removing Olly Stone to wrap up the England innings at 427 all out.
Any hopes Sri Lanka had of making an early dent in that target were frustrated, however, as England shared the wickets around in a brilliant team bowling performance.
Chris Woakes and Stone, who removed Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka within the space of five balls – left the tourists teetering at 35-3 by the end of the 10th over, and there was little help to come from the middle order.
Matthew Potts took the ball and sent stumps flying to account for Angelo Matthews and Dhananjaya de Silva in the 21st over, with Woakes, Stone and Atkinson later also doubling up as the tourists collapsed.
Kamindu Mendis' steady knock of 74 off 120 balls brought some respite for Sri Lanka, but he edged Atkinson's delivery into the palms of Woakes for the final wicket, failing to match his ton from the first Test at Old Trafford on a miserable day for the visitors.
England then avoided any drama when taking up the bat for seven overs before stumps, and Ben Duckett (15) and Pope (2) will resume at the crease on Saturday, hoping to make their handsome lead an unassailable one.
Data Debrief: Atkinson's big moment
While Root's heroics put England in a decent position ahead of Friday's play, Atkinson's brilliant 118 – coming off 115 balls – could prove the difference in this Test, allowing England to build a strong lead despite a lack of support from the lower order.
Atkinson's previous best red-ball knock was a score of 21 not out versus West Indies at Trent Bridge in July.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
