Bounty claimed, interest to follow

Tony Blair, Clive Woodward, Prince Charles, Maggie Thatcher, David Beckham, Martin Johnson, Winston Churchill . . . Your boys took one hell of a beating.

Just rejoice, indeed.

This was one to savour. The Fields Of Athenry had drowned out the Sweet Chariot long before the end, and about 20 minutes after the full-time whistle, in the upper corner of the North Stand and in various other pockets of the ground, chunks of green-swathed supporters were still singing and were damned if they weren't going to savour it. You knew exactly how they felt.

Beating England is sweet at the best of times, but scalping the world champions for the first time since their ascent to global supremacy, and on the widely anticipated celebratory homecoming to their Twickenham citadel, takes some beating. Their four-year, 22-match winning run at the venue shredded, and Lawrence Dallaglio's 26-match Test sequence ended and, well though he himself played, few followed. Such are his and England's standards that, bizarrely, it may have mortally wounded his leadership.

Ireland, not for the first time in recent years, have kicked a hitherto dreary and predictable RBS Six Nations Championship vibrantly into life. Indeed, not the least satisfying aspect of this turn-up is that Ireland have ruined the contrived last-day, night-time finale between France and England, which is now no longer the Grand Slam decider that BBC, sponsors and organisers had bargained for. Your heart bleeds for them.

Indeed, way beyond Europe, from Timaru to Timbuktu, Ireland will be the toast of the rugby world. Top of the world, ma. No one can now beat Ireland to the claim that they were the first to beat the holders of the William Webb Ellis Trophy. For heaven's sake, the Scottish footballers of 1967, Jim Baxter, Denis Law, et al, were still being interviewed about it before England's win in Murrayfield a fortnight ago.

Ireland can dine out on this one for a while, and mischievous, left-field type that he is, Malcolm O'Kelly jokingly revelled in it. "I've known some great days but there's something special about winning here today. Real folklore stuff, y'know. I'm definitely going to live off it."

But yet the ripple effects could be immense if this proves a breakthrough. It's been a commonly expressed view from the Irish camp that, on their day, they can beat anyone. Now that theory has substance.

"That's really a question that has to be answered on an individual basis," said Ronan O'Gara. "It's what you're made up of inside, internally. I've always felt I've been mentally strong, but I think something like that must make you a better team."

O'Gara agreed that potentially it could be a huge step for this team but added: "It's important that you readjust now and get back to square one and don't treat the other opposition lightly."

Roll on a first Triple Crown in 19 years and only a seventh in all? It looks a shoo-in given the paucity of Scotland's performance in their decidedly wooden-spoonish defeat to Italy on Saturday. But Eddie O'Sullivan struck an understandably cautionary note when reminding us that premature talk of a Grand Slam showdown last year very nearly resulted in a Welsh banana skin.

First up Italy, and in truth their pack, their defence and now, most probably, their confidence, will all be a notch above Scotland. Eight names will be added to last Saturday's panel when a squad of 30 is announced today for a midweek mini-camp, with a fit-again Donncha O'Callaghan and Geordan Murphy, now three games into his recovery, liable to be called up before the 22-man squad for the Azzurri is finalised.

Girvan Dempsey, Ireland's only casualty on Saturday, sustained no more than a minor knee injury and will be fine, while an X-ray on Peter Stringer's right hand showed nothing untoward.

For O'Sullivan this was his finest day as a coach, pressing all the right mental buttons, getting the tactics right and, surely, copperfastening his place on the Lions coaching ticket.

What of England and his putative boss? Was there an element of the old superiority complex? It must be stressed that Woodward and Dallaglio could not have been more magnanimous in defeat, the English head coach visiting the Irish dressing-room to say they had "absolutely no complaints, the better team won. Well done and enjoy it".

He took full responsibility, yet would not have changed selection or tactics. This despite Iain Balshaw again looking like an indulgence too far, the Jason Robinson experiment not working in midfield and Neil Back not being brought on at all.

Andy Robinson took it on the chin for the under-siege and misfiring English lineout. He spoke of the Irish jumpers being more aggressive and crowding the space, but it helped that England had only two nominal targets, and that when he went long Thompson couldn't hit the proverbial barn door. How did he last an hour? And not targeting the Shane Byrne throw with Chris Jones, as Sale had done to Leinster, until the 54th minute ensured Ireland, with Simon Easterby, always had a free man for the unerring Byrne to hit.

It will be interesting to see how England react. They could rebound and take both Wales and France, not entirely convincing in their 29-22 win over Wales yesterday, thereby opening up the championship for Ireland as well.