Players' reaction: The overwhelming emotion was one of relief and a quiet satisfaction at what they had accomplished. Ireland entered yesterday's fray burdened by expectation - their own, the public's, the media's. In the past Irish teams have wilted, suffocated by that pressure, but like their defence for much of the Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road, the home side refused to be cowed.

The ebb and flow kept the crowd quiet for large tranches of the match as the home supporters waited to see whether their team's nerve would hold. During the last decade Irish teams have buckled in the face of English intransigence, the latter imbued with the belief and composure that comes from a mature team.

Yesterday it was the Irish team who held the nap hand in terms of experience. As Denis Hickie put it: There was a lot more guys with more experience (on our side). If you look at three or four years ago they had a side with a bit more experience than us and they were able to shut out games.

"They've had a little bit of a change in personnel like every team has. They have the burden of having a lot of guys who weren't at the World Cup; they have the burden without the medals. That is the same going into every game and that must be very hard. I suppose we are just a bit further down the line.

"It's important for us that we do win those games, close them out, for our own progress. You also have to win your home matches no matter who you're playing. It was a massive game. You're never quite sure what it looks like when you're playing but it must have come across as quite an exciting match. There was never more than a score in it."

Hickie was a central figure on several occasions, his blistering acceleration prising the first breach in the English defence for Brian O'Driscoll's try. He also excelled in a defensive context, doing just enough to put off towering English second row Ben Kay from gathering a cross-kick.

And then he made a double tackle in the space of a few seconds to save a certain try from another high punt to his wing. It was a gambit England favoured a great deal.

Hickie smiled: "I had enough practice at it. I think it was the fourth (cross-kick) on the day. It was one of their tactics and is very hard to defend against: they're very good at it. The tackles probably look slightly better than they were because there was no one around. There were a lot of good tackles in that match."

The trench warfare of the forward battle wasn't for the faint- hearted but the ferocity of the collisions was something the Irish pack had anticipated. Simon Easterby offered: "We expected them to take the game to us and we weren't disappointed. In the end it required a huge defensive effort and a great try. We're delighted with the result."

Easterby declined to comment on England's assertion that they were denied two tries by referee Jonathan Kaplan but did point out that Irish players felt a little aggrieved with their opponents' try.

"We were a bit disappointed with that because the ref might not have seen someone taken out. So if they were disappointed with not getting another try then we were disappointed with that."

England's right wing Josh Lewsey couldn't have been more magnanimous in defeat, though there was no denying the English players felt a little hard done by when it came to a couple of try-scoring chances, the second of which Lewsey was himself involved in.

He felt he had grounded the ball before Ireland's Johnny O'Connor managed to prise it away.

"They scooped it back after I let go and that resulted in a turnover. That along with the Mark Cueto decision that was deemed offside might have been a little harsh from our perspective. That's Test match rugby. You get the rub of the green and sometimes you don't.

"I suppose we feel a bit hard done by today. You have to give Ireland credit, though. I thought their defence was fantastic. We did have chances but we just didn't win it.

"The sign of a class team is when you haven't got the rub of the green you can close teams out. Two years ago we would have closed them out and won it.

"That's where this team is. We are pushing the best teams really, really close. We need to get back there (winning)."

It wasn't all doom and gloom. "We can take positives out of the game because our performance was a lot better. We were missing a bit of experience. This Ireland team is better than the one we played two years ago. They did well to win today and you have to give them credit for that.

"It's very easy to turn round and say that we're bitterly disappointed that we have lost again. You can't criticise us for not playing rugby because we did that. That game could have gone either way. The mark of their team is that they closed the game out."