Vulnerable areas targeted

England...13 Ireland...19: England were bad by their own standards, albeit they were made to look bad, and may not have had their two key men from their World Cup, but to hell with that. Somebody had to beat the world champions one day, and, praise be, Ireland were the first to do it and at their impenetrable fortress as well.

One imagines an Irish win has rarely given so much pleasure to Eddie O'Sullivan and this management team, as well as players and supporters alike.

Self-confessed insomniac that he is, the Irish coach had obviously studied his videos long into the night and absorbed the lessons from England's World Cup campaign, primarily the shake-up they'd been given by an irreverent Welsh side, and, more latterly, the Scots.

Another excellent kicking game dovetailed with a deliberate targeting of the English defence out wide, in the knowledge that is the one area where Phil Larder's renowned system allows opponents some space. Ireland's decisive, match-winning try was the clearest vindication of that policy.

Ireland also targeted England in all the areas where they were vulnerable, moving the out-of-sorts Iain Balshaw around, and pressing up aggressively in defence. It was another remarkable day at the office for forwards coach Niall O'Donovan, which this time, a little belatedly, was finally rewarded with a major scalp, and most probably Mike Ford's best day at the office as well.

The two are inextricably linked, for defence starts by winning the opposition lineout. By effectively taking an astonishing 11 English throws (Steve Thompson's crooked darts were as much a product of the pressure as his overthrows), Ireland very often stopped England at source.

But when they had to defend, Ireland pushed up and did so aggressively, keeping their shape and their numbers out. Save for Jason Robinson, all the more so when he was inevitably moved to full back, and occasionally when Lawrence Dallaglio rumbled off scrums, there was no real threat, no hum of expectation among the home supporters.

Superb in last season's Six Nations, supreme at the World Cup (when winning 101 of 103 throws) and again in this championship, the Irish lineout obliterated England here. It must, statistically, be the best lineout in the world this past year or more.

Ireland piled on the pressure, launching Malcolm O'Kelly and Paul O'Connell into the air, sowing the seeds of doubt into Thompson and his forwards when O'Connell took the first throw from the clutches of Ben Kay. As important as O'Donovan's preparatory work and the agility and aggression of the Irish locks is the timing of the lifters, especially two six-foot-plus props. It's a helluva mix.

So much of the modern game emanates from lineouts, possession and territory most obviously, with Ireland's kicking game comforted in the knowledge that they could find touch and not necessarily lose possession.

Peter Stringer did have a few wayward passes, but he complemented his customary workrate by taking more of the responsibility off Ronan O'Gara with his kicking game.

And scores, such as Ireland's try. Emanating from a good, go-forward lineout maul, and the confidence to run it from their own half, still and all, and not unexpectedly, it emanated from the ability of one player, namely Gordon D'Arcy, to beat an opponent one-on-one, none other than Will Greenwood.

Having gone right, Ireland kept their width - as practised on the training ground - and double skip passes by Brian O'Driscoll and D'Arcy enabled Tyrone Howe to give Girvan Dempsey a run to the corner and he slid in smartly. Secure where Balshaw was iffy, and in comparison also more willing to run the ball back into contact, this redemptory campaign speaks volumes for Dempsey's mental strength.

As O'Sullivan said, to win at Twickenham a visiting side will invariably have moments of good fortune or close calls. There were several key moments in addition to the try.

England bizarrely elected to attack through the isolated Balshaw off a scrum inside halfway, leading to a turnover penalty with which, significantly, O'Gara deservedly edged Ireland 12-10 in front with the last kick of the first half after conceding two largely self-inflicted scores.

As in the 2001 win on Ben Cohen, there was Stringer's trademark tap tackle on Robinson, and O'Kelly's tackle from heaven on Mark Regan. Paul O'Connell, at possibly the apex of another awesome, hard-edged, all-action effort, signalled the third quarter surge of confidence and ball-in-hand continuity which eventually culminated in the try with his abrasive charge and offload behind the tackle to Anthony Foley.

But perhaps the biggest intervention of all came from D'Arcy, again, doing just enough to nab Cohen short of the line before recourse to the video referee confirmed a double movement.

Coming after England had reclaimed the second-half kick-off and Paul Grayson's unexpected chip-and-catch (had Balshaw been up to speed with the supporting Will Greenwood it might well have been a run-in), 15-12 or 17-12 then, with Swing Low echoing around Twickenham and England full of confidence, could have led to a different game.

What the quirky New Zealand commentator Murray Mexted calls "the ebb and flow of psychic energy".

But in so many areas, and in so many match-ups, Ireland were the masters.

Second-row most obviously of all, possibly, where a fired-up O'Kelly and O'Connell were immense.

Simon Easterby, who managed to get his hands on the ball and pump his legs in addition to his customary workload, is now, again, a key player in the mix. Foley put in some big hits, and Keith Gleeson, who tackled big and made some good decisions on the ball, revelled in the absence of Neil Back and seemed to be at the bottom of everything as well as making some good decisions on the ball.

O'Gara, after an unsure start, grew into the game magnificently, and aside from his kicking game showed his innate footballing skills and sharp distribution on the gain line when Ireland upped the tempo decisively in that third quarter.

Few will bemoan their own performances except, ironically, O'Driscoll, but even then the boy-wonder-turned-captain clearly has the Midas touch, one to savour.