The Leinster man had a poor game by his very high standards, but was quick to pour praise on his team-mates who threw their all at the occasion.

"We always knew it would be tough coming over here, but we’re capable of beating any side in the world if we perform to the best of our ability," said O’Driscoll.

"I am not saying we were at our very best today, but we were pretty close to it.

"But it probably doesn’t surprise us as much as it surprises everybody else.

"We have had a couple of bad experiences at Twickenham two and four years ago and I think we used them to our advantage.

"England had to lose their home record at some stage so why not against an Irish team?"

O’Driscoll put the victory down to his forwards who forced England’s pack onto the back foot early in the game, and never allowed them to rally - all part of the day’s plan, said the Ireland skipper.

"We knew we had to take them on up front and not only match them but add something to it," he said.

A visibly elated Ireland coach, Eddie O’Sullivan, also praised the Irish pack for giving the side a platform to attack England - but commended his side’s decision to toss the ball about.

"We frustrated England in the pack by going at them and forcing the errors," said O’Sullivan.

"But we also had the nerve to go out wide - the try was right off the practice field and that was very satisfying.

"England are the world champions and this is Twickenham and that makes it very special.

"But I don’t want to get carried away - we play Italy next and we have just to hold on to the victory and get one job done at a time."

O’Sullivan was moved to mention try-scoring fullback Girvan Dempsey and lock Malcolm O’Kelly, both of whom have come in for criticism this season.

"They say [Dempsey] lacks pace, but he showed that wasn’t true today," he said. "He gives the players around him so much confidence and I was delighted to see him score his try."

O’Kelly, with 61 caps to his name, was dropped from the starting line-up for the last match against Scotland, but O’Sullivan said: "He has come back to have two huge performances. He did it when he came on as a replacement against Wales, and he did it again today.

"Players can react in one of two ways when they are left out, but Malcolm had a big game as all the pack did."

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