SO that's where all the missing tickets went! We now know that they helped form one of the largest visiting choirs we've had at Lansdowne Road, judging from a powerful and, thankfully, uninterrupted rendition of God Save The Queen on Saturday (Was it my imagination or was Amhran na bhFiann sung with extra gusto, because of what had gone before?).

And the blighters were at it again as try after English try pierced Irish hearts late in the match. Suddenly, Swing low, sweet chariot seemed to lose that uplifting spirituality conceived by Stephen Foster.

It was a day when Irish rugby fans discovered there was no such thing as a quick fix. And they also learned that fit, fast professionals are capable of scoring tries at a more rapid rate than rampant amateurs, however skilful.

The initial shock had passed, when I caught up with Pat Whelan, the Irish manager. How could he make sense of what we had just witnessed, only two weeks after a splendid win in Cardiff?

His reply, in measured tones, had a chilling ring to it: "The reality of international rugby now is that if you allow a team like England the latitude we allowed them in the last 20 minutes, they're going to score every time they get the ball."

Whelan went on: "You're talking about full time professional rugby and they have the players with the pace to exploit potential scoring situations. They're big strong men. You just can't allow them the sort of latitude they were afforded by the Irish team today.

"For the first 50 minutes, we were there or thereabouts. We had made a few mistakes which they exploited, but we also got in behind their defence on a few occasions and we didn't exploit those chances. We made some fundamental errors in terms of option taking and when we won our first phase ball we couldn't capitalise on it by getting the ball back quickly enough."

He concluded: "Having said all that, it would be wrong not to recognise that there were a lot of good things in this Irish performance. That is why I don't believe a win over Scotland is not beyond us, even after today."

Irish flanker David Corkery captured the mood of the majority of his team mates when he said: "It wasn't the greatest day of my life, but it was certainly one that I will never forget. It is the hardest lesson I have ever had to absorb and certainly the most painful."

David Humphreys, the substitute out half who replaced the injured Eric Elwood in the 25th minute, had no difficulty in empathising with that view. "The last 25 minutes were probably as difficult as any game I have ever played in," he said. "England were superb. They had already done it once this season against Scotland and the fact that they could come out and do it again against us, proves what a strong side they are."

Injured hooker Keith Wood, his left shoulder still supported, endorsed Humphreys's view, having watched the match as an extremely tense spectator. "This was a very, very impressive England performance," he said. "I've played with and against most of those lads and, to be honest, I didn't expect them to be quite that good."

Nobody did, not even one of their own, Brian Ashton, who as Irish coach was hailed as a miracle worker by success starved fans after a heartening victory over Wales. Did this prove that there was no such thing as a quick fix in rugby? "I'm not sure anyone suggested that there was," replied Ashton. "Certainly not in three weeks. Perhaps in two or three years."

He went on: "We were a little naive and we made a lot of unforced errors, but there were times in the first 50 minutes when we were quite creative. But whatever we did, in today's mood England would have won anyway.

"England are quite happy to wear sides down for 60 minutes. Then they move up two or three gears. What you see at that stage is the tremendous power and pace of their performances in the last 20 minutes today. In that mood, they're very difficult to stop."

It was a particularly grim day for the Irish captain, Jim Staples, who struggled for most of the second half with a damaged hamstring while the English gained in confidence. Indeed, a few, on pitch approaches by team doctor Mick Molloy and physiotherapist John Martin seemed to be for the purpose of withdrawing Staples from battle.

Was this the case, I asked him. "No," he replied afterwards, betraying utter dejection. "I twinged my hamstring and they were simply; checking on how I was."

In a delightful piece in the match programme, Patrick Collins of the Mail on Sunday recalled Ireland's famous 17-3 victory in the corresponding fixture four years ago. In it was the story of the Dub who "tunnelled" his way to the bar for a post match drink.

On reaching the bar and noting the presence of a number of English fans, he protested that there would be no gloating or blowing of trumpets in this civilised city. With that he addressed the barman: "I'll have 17 pints for myself and send three pints to the English lads down there."

Walking from the ground on Saturday, the story came back to me as three English fans asked for directions to Kitty O'Shea's. And I wondered where that smart assed Dub was hiding.