Lawrence Dallaglio was not about to offer media cuttings for an Irish dressing room wall at Lansdowne Road. Instead the England captain delivered a measured assessment of Saturday's Five Nations opponents, overtly generous in his praise of Ireland and articulate in defence of his own position as captain and number eight.

He defused the loaded questions that begged for him to offer shallow, patronising claptrap or stray into jingoistic proclamations. Even the pointed inquiry as to how he has taken the criticism levelled at him by Sky Sports and Daily Telegraph columnist, former England international Stuart Barnes was played with a straight bat. Barnes had suggested that his tackle count and yardage were not what they should have been against the Scots. The only indication that he was slightly miffed about Barnes's comments came from an aside after formal proceedings had been completed when he ventured that he would "refute those allegations on the pitch." Dallaglio may not have betrayed deep-seated beliefs, but he did answer most questions with a degree of candour that is unusual.

He first addressed the problems that Ireland would pose tomorrow. "They (Ireland) had a magnificent victory over Wales, arguably should have beaten France. We all watched that game and they really dominated in terms of possession and territory and I think they should have won. We are playing against a side that is right on top of their game.

"Playing in Dublin is not easy, but I believe that we have a lot of experience in the team, particularly people who have played in the Five Nations and been to Dublin and know what it takes to come away with a result." Dallaglio was adamant that England were not merely paying lip service to Ireland's chances of upsetting the form book.

"We are taking this match very seriously. Although they did not win, they performed very well against South Africa in the autumn and on the back of a very close defeat and a well earned and thoroughly deserved victory they can come into this game with a lot of optimism in terms of getting a result. They are playing in front of their own crowd and we realise that presents a very formidable task."

Ireland's pack has received especial praise in the lead-up to this match, a point one suspects is not lost on the English eight who will not lack motivation: but with tape recorders present yesterday Dallaglio was content to acknowledge the ability of the opponents.

"The Irish pack is very, very strong indeed. Our knowledge of their players is obviously high and our respect for them is high because nine or 10 of them play in the Allied Dunbar Premiership.

"It gives an indication of the strength there is in Irish rugby. Added to that, the rest of their team is made up of their provincial set-up which has improved immeasurably over the last couple of years and that can be measured by the significant victory of Ulster in the European Cup. The Irish pack of forwards is definitely a pack that can compete on a world stage, not least the Five Nations.

"But you would be doing Ireland an injustice if you just pointed to their forwards as a means of winning the game. They have a set of backs who have been well marshalled this year by David Humphreys, who's in great form, and they possess some other threats which people wouldn't normally or traditionally associate with Irish rugby. So we are very aware of the all-round game that they now have and looking forward to taking them on."

Dallaglio then offered the following opinion of his direct opponent, Irish number eight Victor Costello. "He's a good player, I've played against him a couple of times. He performed very well against France and was unlucky to be ruled out from the start against Wales.

"I mean we talk about the strength of the English back-row (they had earlier on) but with players like Eric Miller, who I thought played very well against Wales himself, to be omitted from the team then it shows the strength and depth that Ireland now have."

So are England going to win tomorrow? "We have got to improve the quality of our performance, get the basics right and do the simple things very well indeed. They were not done as effective as they should have been against Scotland. If we can do that then the outcome will look after itself and hopefully that will be right for England.