England and Ireland have played rugby union internationals against each other since 1875, with England winning the first match at The Oval, London by two goals to nil. (A points scoring system was not used in rugby at the time.) The two teams have played a total of 142 Test matches with England winning 81 of them, Ireland 53, and 8 resulting in a draw.[1] However, since rugby union went professional in 1995, the head-to-head is a lot closer. The teams have met 34 times since then with England winning 19 test matches to Ireland's 15.
Apart from their annual match during the Six Nations Championship, the teams have also met on six other occasions, with England winning five. The sides have played four warm-up matches prior to the 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023 World Cups. They played a one-off match in April 1988 to celebrate the millennium of the city of Dublin in which the winners of the 1988 match, England, were awarded the Millennium Trophy. This then became the trophy for the annual match between the teams in the Six Nations Championship. The sides also faced off in the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup which took place in November 2020.
Ireland achieved a record away winning margin over England when they beat them 32–15 on 12 March 2022, following an early Charlie Ewels red card.[2]