The disappointment was etched on his face, anger bubbling beneath the surface as Kieron Dawson tried to dissect the previous 80 minutes at Twickenham on Saturday. Gutted is an over-worked cliche which some players use to describe their feelings in a time of crisis, but for those same combatants it's only a word, an expression of what they should feel.

Animated and blunt, Dawson betrayed a refreshing, cliche-free candour. "We were awful, especially in the first half. I thought it could not get any worse after the World Cup debacle. We come back to Test match rugby, after all that has been said and done, and concede 50 points. That is soul destroying. Irish rugby is at a very low ebb after this.

"It was a huge shock to be honest with you. We had come into the game with optimism and had discussed the injuries to the English team. We thought the loss of Johnson was huge and believed we could take them on up front, certainly in the front five. We always knew their back row was very competitive, a point they rammed home in the match.

"We thought we could attack them out wide in the backs but in fairness it was their backs who were superb. They took us on and gave us a hammering. Some of that is due to Clive (Woodward) as well as he had told them to go out and express themselves: they certainly did so very well.

"For us to even start looking for excuses would be ridiculous. Each player must look to himself."

The London Irish flanker was lobbed a ready-made excuse by a member of the English media who ventured that a section of the visiting team might not be up to it: in searching for a possible scapegoat he put forward the Ireland-based players and suggested that they were sub-standard. Dawson bristled: "I strongly disagree with that statement, certainly not. Munster have shown with their success in the European Cup that the home-based players can compete on more than an equal footing. Despite our heavy defeat I still think that we measure up pretty well man for man with that England team."

The players dispersed yesterday aware that the next seven days may be interrupted by a `Dear John' letter. Dawson conceded: "We have an agonising few days before the next team is announced, especially with the A side doing so well in Northampton and rightly so. We let the coaches down, we let ourselves down."

Ireland are the only team to regularly indulge in the 11-man ruck. Those that did try and stem the whitewash were often left defending one and a half players, bamboozled by the variety of options open to the England player in possession, cross-eyed in their attempt to cover every possibility.

Dawson's tackle count was huge and while annoyed with a couple that he missed, comparisons made with Neil Back on the day are ludicrous. The latter had the luxury of constantly going forward and was therefore not encumbered by the new tackle law that penalises the team not in possession.

Dawson accepted the criticism of Ireland's deplorable defence. "Our defence was all over the shop, we were at sixes and sevens half the time. Our tackling was sub-standard, very poor in fact. Obviously you're not going to do much with these flaws. We all tried. It's not a matter of not trying and I suppose you have to give England some credit."

Conceding 25 points in the first half must have invited a blunt interval team-talk?

"We knew that we hadn't had any possession in the first half and when we had were a little silly, myself included. We gave away stupid penalties in the heat of the moment but we're experienced players now so that's unforgivable.

"In the second half we spoke about trying to control our ball a little better. We wanted to get first phase possession and keep it. We could attack and score tries if we had the ball.

"It was a question of getting it. The forwards must take a lot of the blame for a lot of the tries we conceded. We weren't really filling the lineout, we weren't making tackles to help our backs out wide."