The message on their beaming faces was clear: England are fallible and ’Fortress Twickenham’ is no more.

Man of the match: Gordon D’Arcy deserves a mention for some fabulous breaks, and Ronan O’Gara conducted the game wisely - playing the percentages and making England suffer. But our award goes to all the Irish forwards, who showed up their English counterparts with a passionate and committed display.

Moment of the match: England’s defensive coach Phil Lader can watch the break by Gordon D’Arcy that lead to Ireland’s try as many times as he likes, but there really aren’t any provisions to be made for an attack like that - it was simply magic!

Villain of the match: Bizarrely, several of the England players felt that questioning practically every decision made by referee Paul Honiss would get them somewhere - there really isn’t any place for back-chat in rugby and they were lucky that Honiss decided against punishing the more talkative members of the losing side. But, with our own whinge out of the way, we push this award towards Ben Cohen, who went into Girvan Dempsey’s midriff feet-first as the Irishman slid across the line for his try.

The scorers:

For England:Try: Dawson Con: GraysonPens: Grayson 2

For Ireland:Try: DempseyCon: O’Gara Pens: O’Gara 4

The teams:

England: 15 Iain Balshaw (James Simpson-Daniel, 52), 14 Josh Lewsey, 13 Jason Robinson, 12 Will Greenwood (vice-captain), 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Paul Grayson (Olly Barkley, 58-61), 9 Matt Dawson, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (captain), 7 Richard Hill, 6 Joe Worsley (Chris Jones, 52), 5 Ben Kay, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson (Mark Regan, 58), 1 Trevor Woodman.Unsed replacements: 17 Matt Stevens, 19 Neil Back, 20 Andy Gomarsall.

Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey (Kevin Maggs, 60), 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Gordon D’Arcy, 12 Brian O’Driscoll (captain), 11 Tyrone Howe, 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Anthony Foley, 7 Keith Gleeson, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Paul O’Connell, 4 Malcolm O’Kelly, 3 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 1 Reggie Corrigan.Unsed replacements: 16 Frankie Sheahan, 17 Simon Best, 18 Gary Longwell, 19 Victor Costello, 20 Guy Easterby, 21 David Humphreys.

Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)

By Andy Jackson

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