It's been a tough time for the Ireland players. In trying to focus on Saturday's Six Nations Championship match against Scotland at Lansdowne Road they have had to come to terms with why the English game was a debacle from an Irish perspective.

Girvan Dempsey sifted through the ashes of the defeat, offering a player's perspective of what happened last Saturday week and how the team and management have set about rectifying the mistakes and rebuilding morale ahead of the Scottish game.

KICK-OFF

"Personally, I felt confident. There was an air of expectancy within the team, considering the way we trained during the week. There was no inkling in the build-up to the match of what was about to happen that afternoon in Twickenham. We went out with the objective of trying to get stuck into them and retain possession when we had it.

"In speaking to a couple of the England players afterwards, they expected us to go hell for leather and were surprised that we stood off them. In hindsight, that (going hell for leather) is exactly what we had to do but didn't."

HALF-TIME

"Coming up to the interval, I remember thinking, 'what's going on, we're not this bad. We are not a bad team.' Basically we were just doing silly things. During the week we had worked hard on our defence but when the pressure and the squeeze came on, we didn't do the basics of the defensive pattern and that's where we fell apart.

"Coming into the changing room, the heads were so down. It was articulated that if we didn't get our act together we would lose by 70 or 80 points and that was a very sobering thought and helped focus the minds. Eddie (O'Sullivan) spoke about getting our fringe defence sorted, when we got the ball to retain it and play our patterns. We did do that in the last 30 minutes which was a silver lining of sorts.

"He also pointed out that the referee was favouring the attacking team in allowing them to hang onto the ball and play it on the ground. He emphasised that we did have time on the ground and to make sure we retained the ball at all costs and that the penalties would follow."

BIRD'S EYE VIEW

"They (England) always had one guy running the line and had trailers off him. Our first-up hits weren't good enough and they got the trailer through. Once they broke in behind, we were in trouble. A couple of times they came through in waves and you just had to try and somehow get man and ball. Denis (Hickie) did brilliantly on occasions."

AFTER MATCH

"One thing that springs to mind is what Gaillimh (Mick Galwey) said about us not becoming a bad team overnight. Sure, we let ourselves down on the day but we are a lot better than that performance showed."

THE FOLLOWING DAY

"There was an overwhelming feeling of letting people down. That was reinforced when I heard a supporter in the airport on the way home. He didn't realise that there were a few players around. He said: 'That's the last time I'm going to go to an Irish match expecting something.' That really hurt and hammered home the nature of under-performing and what it means."

RECONVENING

"The management were very good. They were positive in the way in which the video was broken down, emphasising what we needed to do, rather than dwelling on what we didn't do. They focused on the fundamental principles of the defensive system. The following day we went to Skerries and put it into practice. There is a better understanding of individual responsibility within the system.

"You do a bit of soul searching after a defeat like that. We want to prove to the public that we are not as bad as the performance suggested. We in the team know that we aren't but the proof only really comes on the pitch."

SCOTLAND

"You are aware of the pressure to perform on Saturday. It's true, we don't have a great record against Scotland but at the same time there is a determination within the squad to atone for Twickenham. We have a responsibility to ourselves and our supporters. We know what we have to do and we're really going to go after it."

(In an interview with John O'Sullivan)