England v Ireland: Ronan O'Gara spoke with the assurance that is nurtured by victory. There were no grey areas any more, no ifs of buts that might have occupied his mind up until the final whistle. His perspective was defined by the result.

Had Ireland lost to England at Twickenham on Saturday, the Munster and Ireland outhalf would have been inconsolable.

Winning often proves a panacea that camouflages collective or individual shortcomings or mistakes, soothes frayed nerves. Any criticisms are softened by self-deprecating laughter, secure that the result cannot be altered. No matter what way one might care to dress it up, Ireland were fortunate to win on Saturday evening in London.

That doesn't mean they didn't deserve to win - they did - just that crucial decisions went in their favour. There is an expression about making your own luck but the Irish players would balk at the suggestion that the quality of their performance demanded large slices of good fortune.

O'Gara offered a potted history of Ireland's Triple Crown success. "It would have been sickening to lose. The first half we missed a few kicks and a few try-scoring opportunities and that could have come back to haunt us. Our wide, wide pattern, where we had hoped to break through them was working quite well but we didn't finish off scores. I think that England upped their game considerably in the second half. They were a different side.

"We had one or two poor passages of play that could have cost us badly. In fairness (the move from) the scrum was pre-planned really. Strings (Peter Stringer) was probably the calmest fella on the pitch. He just said we have three and a half minutes and the suggestion was made about doing a little chip. It got a nice bounce," he laughed.

"Brian (O'Driscoll) hit Shaggy (Shane Horgan) and feck it, I was hoping that Shaggy would just go, go, go. There was a ruck, we hit midfield and they must have been offside because players were coming from everywhere. In fairness, Strings hit Shaggy and he's an incredible finisher. I don't think anyone on the pitch would have got it bar him. It was an exceptional score. Huge credit must go to him."

The man who broke a couple of place-kicking records on the day wasn't interested in the bouquets, despite a superb touchline conversion that afforded Ireland some breathing space. "I think it was one of the most important tries we ever scored. I wouldn't put much focus on the conversion. I didn't know what score it was, so I had to look up and see that it was 26-24. I had to tune in to the fact that the conversion, if I kicked it, would win us the game."

There were 90 seconds left when the television match official awarded Horgan's second try. O'Gara was entitled to take up to one minute with the conversion, leaving 30 seconds. Referee Nigel Whitehouse forgot to re-start the clock until he got to halfway. It meant that when Ireland secured the kick-off and O'Gara hoofed the ball out of play the match should have been over. It wasn't.

"There was panic all right but when you're four points up, you can cheat a little bit. From the lineout we just took our (defensive) line speed up a new level, they weren't going to get through us. It was hugely satisfying. Two years ago was more surprising in the fact that we had to prove to a lot of people that we were capable of beating England.

"I don't think there is anyone in our changing-room that doesn't think we could beat England. That's four (wins) out of six (wins against England) for a lot of us since we have come in, in 2000. We would have been every disappointed had we not beaten them."

O'Gara added: "People may think that the English players are better than the Irish players. I don't believe that for a minute.

"There's quality in our team all over the park and I suppose that maybe the fact that Sky Sports is over here that these (England) fellas are blown up a little bit into what they actually aren't. I couldn't be happier with the people around me. You have seen the character once again. People might have questioned that in the past. There's a great will to win for each other. It's hugely satisfying."

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan could have used the press conference to browbeat his detractors but chose not to as he eschewed the notion that the Triple Crown was a vindication of his management style. "We've come through difficult times and we've had to look at ourselves, had to ask ourselves questions and see if we were going in the right direction. It's not about vindication.

"We are a team in transition. It's not done yet but as Brian (O'Driscoll) said this Six Nations is a watershed for us. We have proved that we can come together as a team; we are improving bit by bit. I'm not going to get carried away. I'm very proud of the team but there's more to be done."