After helping top off a memorable year for Irish rugby and Declan Kidney with a Churchill Cup win, Neil Best insisted it was collective desire and hunger that led Ireland A to convincing win over the England Saxons last night.

Kidney’s team beat the Saxons 49-22 in Denver to break the English stranglehold on the competition and it was no less than was deserved after a fearless performance against a much bigger side.

“It was a massive challenge,” said Best afterwards. “We saw how they (England) played against the first two teams - physically they are a lot bigger and stronger than us.

“They are a very good team - I’m not going to say we smashed them in every facet. But we had the hunger.

“We had three captains in the team and we’ve never won this competition before. It’s fantastic.”

Asked for his captaincy technique, the Northampton flanker continued: “Say nothing, let other people do the talking, supervise well and make sure people do their jobs.

“I’ll be having a few sarsaparillas tonight.”

Leinster fullback Felix Jones added on Sky Sports: “Hopefully there’s a bit more to come. We knew we had to apply the pressure in the right areas.

“Before the tournament we set out to improve after every match. Today we just tried to get right what we got wrong in the previous games right and we seemed to click.

“We pushed for 50 points but they kept going and got a deserved try at the end - fair play to them.

“We were preparing for a close game but we just clicked today.”

Fergus McFadden said: “I’ve had a disjointed season so it’s good to get three starts in a row and some game-time.

“We have a good group of players and it’s a lot easier to play when you are around good players.”

The Leinster centre acknowledged his performances in the tournament have done his hopes of stepping up to the senior side no harm.

He added: “The senior managers are looking at it because they’re out here with us - it’s a stepping stone and it’s great to be involved.”

England led 6-0 with two Stephen Myler penalties - but apart from second half tries from Ben Woods and Tom Varndell there was little for them to cheer as they were comprehensively outplayed by an Ireland A side who ran in six tries.

Saxons captain Phil Dowson admitted afterwards: “We’ve taken a pasting.

“I’m a little bit shocked - we’ll have to have a look at video but it’s not going to be pretty in terms of set-pieces.

“We didn’t look after our ball and didn’t subject them to enough work at their breakdown.

“Give Ireland A a huge amount of credit - they came out and played extremely well - but we’re going to have to look in the mirror.”