England's home critics swing low

As is ever the case when hyped English teams fail to deliver, their own devour them more rapaciously than any one else. So it came to pass yesterday as the English critics of Clive Woodward's team were let off the leash.

The Observer curtly condemned the England team as "World Chumps". Inside, Kevin Mitchell's match report, referring to the Twickenham fortress, declared: "When the walls came tumbling down, they crashed not to the sound of trumpets but gnashing of teeth. England are beaten. Fortress Twickenham has been stormed at last."

Colleague Eddie Butler spoke of Gordon D'Arcy in the sort of terms normally reserved for Brian O'Driscoll: "The real star for Ireland, outside their magnificent pack, was Gordon D'Arcy," he wrote. "Interesting character . . . It was difficult to ignore the stories about his chequered past as a bit of a lad, who liked to go on the lash a bit. Here he was athleticism personified. He has rebuilt his professional career as a dancing, darting wizard."

The Sunday Express kept with the battle imagery. Their inside headline was "Ireland storm fortress HQ", with Steve Bale focusing on an England without their former captain and enforcer Martin Johnson: "This was the day on which the absence of Martin Johnson and the injured Jonny Wilkinson had the adverse effect, that subconsciously Sir Clive Woodward must have feared".

The Independent on Sunday also failed to sidestep the war imagery. "One of the more remarkable records in professional sport died an inglorious death when England came off a poor second best to Ireland at Fortress Twickenham," wrote Tim Glover.

Again it was the D'Arcy who attracted the most lavish praise from the writer: "Curiously Ireland achieved their famous victory despite a desperate performance by Brian O'Driscoll but in Gordon D'Arcy they had the most creative player on the pitch."

The Sunday Telegraph, with their two former international players Paul Ackford and Ieuan Evans, heaped more praise on Eddie O'Sullivan's side. "Ireland were simply magnificent," wrote Ackford. "They were the team that looked like world champions and they deserve every plaudit which will no doubt come their way."

It was left to Evans to take Ireland's win beyond the mere tactical nuts and bolts. "This was HQ. Teams do not beat modern England at HQ, and especially not England the world champions. Did Ireland believe ?" he asked, before adding: "You bet they did."