Greater confidence was the key difference

Ireland v England/Analysis:  The first 20 minutes of the second half summed the match up nicely: England attacked for all of that period, rucking much more quickly than in the first half which began to stretch the Irish defence. I was very relieved when all we conceded was a drop goal from Charlie Hodgson as England looked likely to score a try.

Then our first foray into the English half ended with a try for Brian O'Driscoll, when he had the presence of mind to ground the ball near the English posts. That score, converted by Ronan O'Gara, put us six points ahead and England had to chase the game. Our defence, though stretched to the very limits, held firm, confirming the huge improvement in this area.

Every player contributed to this aspect of Ireland's performance but special mention must go to Anthony Foley, Johnny O'Connor and Paul O'Connell in the pack, as well as O'Driscoll and Denis Hickie, especially for the winger's double tackle act which saved a certain try late in the game.

In sport confidence is crucially important. Ireland have it in abundance at the moment while England have clearly lost theirs.

In a tight game such as yesterday's, where there was never more than six points between the teams, the side with the greater confidence usually wins. Ours is a far more settled team. Although England had more possession, they didn't look nearly as well organised or disciplined. Indeed, it was difficult to comprehend England's tactics in the first half when they seemed determined to impose themselves physically on their opponents. They never played for position on the park and needlessly drove at the Irish, even in their own half of the pitch. These plays usually finished with a scrum or penalty to Ireland. Similarly, the English ruck ball in that period was so slow it never put the Irish defence under pressure.

Ireland, on the other hand, used what possession came their way to good effect. Ronan O'Gara was content to take his drop goal opportunities. We didn't create nearly as many try scoring opportunities as England but finished up with the same try count, which is as much a credit to our defence and opportunism as it is to England's shortcomings.

I have no doubt there will be a lot of complaints from the losers about the South African referee, Mr Kaplan. Without taking away from Ireland's win some of the criticism is merited. In particular his decision to give Ireland a five-yard scrum, when England were claiming a try, without even checking with the video referee was extraordinary. I've criticised referees in the past for going to the video too quickly but it certainly seemed merited on this occasion. I also thought Ireland were fortunate when he disallowed the try by Mark Cueto just before half-time and also pulled him up for a forward pass just before the final whistle. I also think the referee damaged the game as a spectacle by failing to control the breakdowns. The law changes that were introduced at the start of the season were not applied at all.

However, in sport you need a bit of luck. We've been on the wrong end of refereeing decisions often enough and England have had their fare share of breaks in the past.

O'Gara struck the ball very well throughout. In fact his kicking was far smoother than his opposite number. However, I would have picked the Irish captain as my man of the match. Apart from scoring the try, O'Driscoll's performance was overall immense. He is our fourth backrow forward at the breakdown and does the work of two backs in defence. On a few occasions when it looked impossible for him to stop the ball carrier he somehow managed to make the tackle. He is also fearless about putting his body on the line.

Shane Horgan used his physical strength to great effect but the back line as an attacking unit performs much better with Horgan on the wing and Gordon D'Arcy back beside O'Driscoll. Hopefully, D'Arcy will have recovered in time for the French game in two weeks.

The Welsh victory on Saturday over France was good for us. It has taken the wind out of the French season. There will be considerable unease in their camp, which hopefully will affect their temperament. I would prefer our chances of beating Wales in a head-to-head for the Championship than face the French side chasing another Grand Slam, even at Lansdowne Road.

We are lucky that we have two weeks before the next match to allow players recover. Geordan Murphy took a lot of physical punishment yesterday from his Premiership colleagues and O'Driscoll will also benefit from the rest. A number of the forwards took heavy knocks and the senior players in the pack will welcome the break.

France, it seems, are back to their old unpredictable worst. They looked like they were going to overwhelm the Welsh early on and still lost. The big difficulty for the Irish management now may be not knowing what to expect at Lansdowne Road in two weeks' time.

In an interview with Johnny Watterson