Ireland 24 England 8:NICE OF the real Irish team to show up, so nice and such a relief, in fact, that it really does seem churlish to ask where they'd been hiding themselves up until this.

Of course, Ireland were never that far away, which merely added to the sense of frustration over the previous four games – not least for themselves. And they used that frustration, and the burning sense of resentment over refereeing decisions – especially the week before – and the auld enemy seeking a Slam on their home turn to bring their A game to the Aviva.

The crowd played their part too, to the delight of the players. From the anthems on, you sensed there was something special in the air.

Many of the building blocks remained in place from the previous games, starting with a near impenetrable defence that has now conceded just four tries – one while down to 14 men, one a missed tackle, one illegal and here, an intercept. Only this time it was possibly even better.

Reading a predictable English diet of hard straight runners and inside passes to their trailing wingers – which yielded one trademark line break in the 50th minute for Chris Ashton – like an open book, they literally saw them coming and lined them up from the first minute.

Les Kiss’ status as a supreme defensive coach has seen Ireland innovatively adapt to the law amendments in the tackle area by holding up ball carriers to effect a maul and ensuing turnover scrum.

Ireland had a raw deal in each of their previous four games to varying levels, but not this time, and Bryce Lawrence was also the most alert to this tactic.

When Dylan Hartley came charging up the middle, the outstanding Donncha O’Callaghan and Rory Best held him until the cavalry arrived, thereby drawing a line in the sand. As seismic a moment was the ensuing scrum, as England were marched backwards.

Ye Gods, the Irish scrum has become a weapon! Okay, Alex Corbisiero wouldn’t be England’s first choice loose-head, and how he lasted 80 minutes beggared belief.

When England applied width, Ireland just drifted across and nailed their man, Brian O’Driscoll giving another veritable masterclass in how to corral Banahan and co toward the touchline.

But there was also more to this Irish display, more clarity, more focus, more intensity and also more freedom to their game which trusted their footballing instincts.

Although he had played well, Jonathan Sexton had been just a little one-dimensional in Ireland’s opening two games, but here he also mixed his game beautifully – the angled, pinpoint touchfinder adding to the pressure on England, reminding them this was no Twickers and getting the home crowd into the game as well as leading to Sexton’s first three pointer.

It tells you something about the man’s courage that Sexton responded to his recall by having the vision to take a quick tap with his first touch two minutes into the game from well inside his own half – Gordon D’Arcy’s cut out pass enabling Keith Earls to expose Matt Banahan’s defensive limitations at outside centre.

Sexton’s alertness for the quick tap and pass which put Tommy Bowe over for the breakthrough try was even better. Bowe’s work-rate off the ball and trailers underlined why he remains a better winger than “the best winger in the world”.

His earlier try-scoring pass to O’Driscoll was adjudged marginally forward, though admittedly Tim Hayes could not have been better placed.

Hard, dynamic carrying by the likes of Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip and the outstanding David Wallace – at 34 a freak of nature whose campaign was as good as any he’s had – helped set the tempo. It has to be said too that Eoin Reddan, sharp in everything he did, was a key contributor to this.

If Sexton’s selection was thoroughly vindicated, so too was Andrew Trimble’s and Keith Earls’ switch to full-back (though the watching Luke Fitzgerald must have noted with some irony that, bizarrely, Flood and co didn’t test Earls once in the air).

Trimble’s sheer enthusiasm and willingness to have a go energized the Irish back three. Aside from having their limitations exposed, England’s temperament also failed the test.

Ben Youngs’ yellow card ended a rattled display, Hartley’s throwing under pressure still doesn’t convince and, with things not going his way, Chris Ashton seemed intent on beheading both Irish out-halves – witness his pursuit of Ronan O’Gara throughout the end game.

It was his high tackle on Sexton that enabled the outhalf to make it 6-0. Not alone did Flood not vary his game sufficiently, but he missed a proverbial sitter to get England off the mark after they’d been hit by an Irish storm for the first 26 minutes.

England were devoid of the kind of leadership O’Driscoll and co provided Ireland, and it was entirely fitting that 11 years to the day after his hat-trick in Paris, O’Driscoll broke the championship’s try-scoring record with a wonderful pick up.

Cue The Fields.

In truth, it could have been 40. Ireland created and scored two good tries to one intercept, and also fashioned at least three other gilt-edged chances, whereas that Ashton break apart, one couldn’t recall England threatening the Irish line.

Flies in the ointment? Ireland did take their foot off the pedal and began playing the clock a mite too prematurely, which to some degree made this more of a 60 minute performance than an 80 minute one.

That said, they closed out the game cleverly and effectively in the last 10 minutes, bringing on the rain master Ronan O’Gara to pin England into the corners as the ball became a bar of soap.

England were also re-energised by their more pro-active use of the bench than the home side.

England had already used six of their bench by time Ireland introduced Tom Court for Mike Ross at tight-head. Ross may have been injured but the Irish scrum immediately went from being a weapon to a weakness. Ireland didn’t score in the last half-an-hour, but then again neither did England in the last 25 minutes after Steve Thompson’s intercept try. They got off lightly.

Scoring sequence:7 mins – Sexton pen 3-0; 15 mins – Sexton pen 6-0; 23 mins – Sexton pen 9-0; 28 mins – Bowe try 14-0; 32 mins – Flood pen 14-3; 38 mins – Sexton pen 17-3 (half-time 17-3); 47 mins – O'Driscoll try, Sexton con 24-3; 53 mins – Thompson try 24-8.

IRELAND:Keith Earls (Munster); Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster); Jonathan Sexton (Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Leinster); Cian Healy (Leinster), Rory Best (Ulster), Mike Ross (Leinster), Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster), Paul O'Connell (Munster), Sean O'Brien (Leinster), David Wallace (Munster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements:Tom Court (Ulster) for Ross (58 mins), Ronan O'Gara (Munster) for Sexton (70 mins), Denis Leamy (Munster) for D Wallace (72 mins), Leo Cullen (Leinster) for O'Connell, Sean Cronin (Connacht) for Best, Peter Stringer (Munster) for Reddan, Paddy Wallace (Ulster) for D'Arcy (all 79 mins)

ENGLAND:Ben Foden (Northampton Saints); Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), Matt Banahan (Bath), Shontayne Hape (Bath), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks); Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers); Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Tom Palmer (Stade Francais), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Nick Easter (Harlequins,capt). Replacements:Simon Shaw (London Wasps) for Palmer (26 mins), Danny Care (Harlequins) for Youngs (46 mins), Steve Thompson (Leeds Carnegie) for Hartley, Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester) for Cole, Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon) for Flood (all 51 mins), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers) for Deacon (55 mins), David Strettle (Saracens) for Cueto (66 mins). Sinbinned – Youngs (36-46 mins).

Referee:Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand).