Two years ago Ireland turned up at Twickenham, travelling more in hope than expectation. Prior to Saturday's match those sentiments were reversed. Unfortunately from an Irish perspective the end result was similarly gruesome. The nightmare was revisited.

Ireland started nervously, rode their luck for 20 minutes and then succumbed to a period of sustained excellence from a rampant England team. Eddie O'Sullivan is a pragmatist and as such would have recognised that if Ireland stumbled from the traps, the race would be over long before the finishing line came into view.

He alluded to this in the build-up to the match. He was forced to do so again in the aftermath: "We never said this couldn't happen. I said all along that if England got that sort of possession and momentum on their game, it would be a very difficult day for anybody at Twickenham.

"We knew that if we didn't dominate possession or at least get our fair share of it and get into our stride early in the game, we would be in trouble. Unfortunately we didn't and from the very start of the game we were on the back foot. It was one-way traffic.

"We weathered the first 20 minutes of the storm pretty well with a lot of hard work even though we didn't defend very smartly. We defended with a lot of commitment but the second 20 minutes before half-time saw the damage done.

"The game slipped away from us. England began the second half well but as the match wore on we came into it more, got ball in our hands and probably at the end of the day kept the score down more than anything else. It was a game that went away from us very quickly.

"Probably the most important thing for us was to try and not give them so much ball. They dominated the ball. We didn't fire well in the lineout. We lost our own throws when we might have been able to build something. That gave them the platform to build the first-half lead they got."

It wasn't simply though about Ireland's woes, the missed tackles, the lack of control and accuracy but also the quality of the opposition. O'Sullivan concurred: "I think it was an outstanding performance by England, particularly in the first half.

"They dominated possession, field position and they got a lot of momentum on their game. We always knew coming here that if that happened, we would be in a little trouble."

He also paid tribute to the game's outstanding performer England outhalf, Jonny Wilkinson: "It was a very complete performance. His distribution was marvellous, his kicking out of hand and off the ground superb. He was outstanding in broken play, switching the point of attack brilliantly and coming off either foot into space thereby making it very difficult for those trying to close him down.

"We were pretty drained at half-time. Credit to the boys in the second half when they got it (possession) they held onto it and took England through phases and maybe could have ended up with a couple more scores.

"But England have a good defence as well, they are not a one dimensional team being able to attack and defend. It is very hard to break them down even more so when you're tired."

Ireland's captain Mick Galwey spoke of the deep disappointment of the players, admitting "It was a hard lesson for us. Everyone of our players to a man had to put up their hands and say that they didn't perform. The best team won by a long shot. It's now a test of the team to see what it's made of in responding to this defeat.

Assistant coach Declan Kidney was more philosophical: "This game can be a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. In the same way that you can't get carried away when you win a match, you can't allow yourself to get overly depressed if you lose a match.

"You see what you did well and go away and see what you can improve. The only plus that can be taken out of a match that you don't win is that there is always a lot more to learn about yourself than when you do win."