Defiant and defensively robust for most of the first half and into the second, England were eventually undone in Dublin by a defining period of just over 20 minutes in which they conceded 22 unanswered points. Though Ireland endured shaky moments and were occasionally ruffled by the pressure imparted by Steve Borthwick’s charges, they ultimately delivered a clinic in seizing impetus as a gripping Test match was in the balance.

50 minutes: Bundee Aki breaks the dam

There had been impressive aspects of the England defence, such as their tenacity at the breakdown and their decision-making out wide. The rapid, occasionally reckless press of the autumn had been replaced by “softer” drifting when Ireland spread the ball to the flanks. However, the introduction of Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan proved pivotal.

The former, among the best hookers on the planet, is a rampaging carrier and hurtled around Bundee Aki to punch a hole from a line-out that had been set up by Cadan Murley’s sliced clearance. Ireland’s forwards made ground around the ruck, tying in England defenders, before the hosts probed close to the left touchline. A fabulous skip pass from Sam Prendergast, who did show flashes of class despite being targeted by England, put Aki in space and the centre bulldozed Marcus Smith before holding off Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman to reach out and score.

A missed tackle from Mitchell on James Lowe had brought about Jamison Gibson-Park’s finish earlier. Ireland’s support play and athleticism make them deadly in open field when defenders slip off collisions.

55 minutes: England stung by soft penalties

Avoidable offences in quick succession sweep opponents up the field and surrender cheap metres. This normally proves disastrous against elite opponents, though England were perhaps unfortunate to find themselves on the wrong side of referee Ben O’Keeffe to go behind.

Freddie Steward climbed to tap back Smith’s restart following the Aki try, but Henry Slade was collared for pushing Mack Hansen upon chasing a grubber. Ireland hit touch and, when Sheehan appeared to have sent his throw sailing over Conan, with Ellis Genge charging away at the tail, O’Keeffe brought play back to punish what he adjudged to be a subtle nudge from Maro Itoje on the rival lifting pod.

Having missed two conversions, Prendergast struck the penalty beautifully from around 43 metres out. He bisected the posts to add the three points that put Ireland 13-10 up. England were also unlucky that Caelan Doris’ upright tackle on Tom Curry was not afforded more scrutiny from the officials.

But to prevail in Test matches away from home, teams must be good enough in other areas to rise above such inevitable hitches. As it happened, an early tackle from Chandler Cunningham-South on Hugo Keenan just beyond the hour mark also hurt England because it foreshadowed another try.

63 minutes: Defence sliced all too easily

England’s failure to find a foothold in possession or generate any real fluency with their phase play – especially in the second half, when they appeared to be reliant on attacking from broken-field scenarios created by contestable kicks – contrasted sharply with how Ireland’s trademark synergy grew stronger as the game wore on. And, again, Tadhg Beirne’s try also highlighted the impact of Ireland’s bench.

Robbie Henshaw, who had replaced Aki, was sent into midfield from a line-out. Though he was stopped by Smith, with Tom Willis burrowing in to slow down the breakdown, Ireland struck. Gibson-Park stepped out and fixed Genge on the fringe as three runners flooded at Cunningham-South.

England’s young back-rower was distracted by two forwards, Iain Henderson and Beirne, as Lowe sliced closer to the ruck and directly up the guts. Steward and Freeman scrambled, but Beirne opened his stride to arrive on the left shoulder of his wing to take a pass and tear over the try-line.

With the conversion from Jack Crowley, given how blunt the England attack was looking, a 10-point margin felt terminal.

73 minutes: Sheehan kills it off

Ireland sensed blood in the kicking battle and peppered Smith when the latter shifted to full-back. The positioning of Murley was tested too, and the Harlequins wing demonstrated a touch of naivety with around 12 minutes remaining. Having allowed a kick to roll over his own try-line, he attempted to run the ball back and was lifted up and over the touchline to give up a five-metre line-out. It took a Tom Curry jackal turnover to retain the faintest glimmer of hope for England, but again Ireland’s phase shape picked them off and ended the contest.

From a breakdown on his own 10-metre line some 15 metres in from the flank, Gibson-Park swung a long pass across three flat forward runners to Sheehan, who had Crowley out the back and Conan cutting a shorter angle. Theo Dan jammed in to join Willis in a tackle when he probably did not need to and Slade could not react in time to close the space. It was a perfect snapshot of how an intuitive, cohesive attack can stress a defence and force them to make split-second decisions.

Conan could lope through. Fin Smith bravely tripped him up, yet a rapid ruck resulted and kept England backpedalling. Gibson-Park fed Doris at first-receiver as part of a three-man pod. This time the right option was a pull-back behind Andrew Porter to Henshaw, who whipped wide to Sheehan – yes, the hooker was somehow in the outside-centre channel.

Another cut-out pass to Lowe allowed the latter to outflank Freeman and Sheehan had tracked matters to find himself on the inside. He took a simple pass and had the power to hold off a pair of Smiths, rubber-stamping Ireland’s superiority in the process. The result was beyond doubt, and Crowley’s confident conversion consolidated a wonderful move.