One of the founding fixtures of the championship, England against Ireland at Allianz Stadium in 2026 marked Maro Itoje’s 100th cap and ended in a 42–21 Irish win.
Ireland came to Allianz Stadium on Saturday 21 February 2026 for round three of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, a week after England had lost the Calcutta Cup in Edinburgh.
Ireland were one of the four Home Nations that contested the first championship in 1883, the first international rugby competition of any kind, and the fixture with England has run through every era of the tournament since. France joined in 1910 and Italy in 2000, but the older rivalry has kept its own weight. Ireland had won the 2025 meeting 27–22 in Dublin, England’s only defeat of that championship.
England came in on nine straight home wins, their longest run since a 15-match sequence between 2015 and 2018 that Ireland had ended. Maro Itoje, the captain, won his 100th cap, the ninth man to reach the mark for England, and Henry Pollock started a Test for the first time.
Jamison Gibson-Park, Robert Baloucoune and Tommy O’Brien scored inside half an hour, a spell interrupted when the referee, Andrea Piardi, pulled up injured. Fraser Dingwall replied on the stroke of half-time, and Ireland led 22–7. Dan Sheehan and Jamie Osborne added tries in the second half, and Jack Crowley kicked two penalties. Ollie Lawrence and Sam Underhill scored for England, with George Ford converting all three, but Ireland won 42–21 and ended the home run at nine.