Triple Crown - Hopes Fulfilled

George said we'd win - I wanted to believe him - but I wasn't sure! It was a long day of rugby - I watched most of a poor game when Scotland beat Italy. The significance of this is that by the end of the day Scotland might finish ahead of England in the Championship. The Wales got our hopes up leading and dominating a mediocre French team. But in the last 10 minutes our hopes were dashed and France beat Wales to leave Ireland needing to beat England by 34 points to win the Championship. That was clearly out of the question. So it just left us the Triple Crown to play for. England got the perfect start with a try by Noon after just 1 minute. However given the contrarian nature of the Irish psyche, this early score left the English thinking this is easy ("Swing Low" started up in the stands) but it was just the thing to get the Irish just focused on the job at hand.

Easterby's Line Out Uploaded by papang.

6 minutes later, Horgan had a clever kick on from a fumbled catch by an England defender, to touch down and get us back on level terms. The replay showed that the ball bounced on the touchline (out!) and for the second time this season the Irish were lucky. The first half finished 14-11, Ireland dominated the 1st half, but ended up just 3 points ahead (three O'Gara penalties to two from Goode). But the half time commentary from George and the TV panel was still favourable and our hopes were up. Then England piled on the pressure in the 2nd half, Borthwick got the reward with a try, Leamy stole one back but then Goode got his kicking boots back and with 5 minutes to go at 24-21,

Horgan's Try Uploaded by papang.

we were 3 points behind. Then it happened in extra time with 4 minutes left on the stop watch - a scrum on our 22 metre line; a chip ahead by O’Driscoll; a catch missed by Voyce, a bounce and catch by O'Driscoll, out to Horgan who passed back to O'Driscoll, who set up the break-down, feeding back to Stringer who floated a long, cut out pass to Horgan who charged the corner and with Moody trying to drag him into touch, we were with the TV ref.....but Horgan’s strength and guts were too much… it was a try...!! The O'Gara got the conversion and with 90 seconds to go we were 4 points ahead.

Champagne at Twickenham Uploaded by papang.

Champagne flowing at Twickenham.

Triple Crown trophy Uploaded by papang.

Victory in Twickenham for the second time in a row was made all the sweeter when we received the first ever presentation of a Triple Crown trophy. The team went on a lap of honour around the ground - the English fans had gone home but the place looked to be still half full of cheering Irish fans.
And that's how it finished 28-24 and the Triple Crown to Ireland.