England manager Martin Johnson could not hide his unhappiness after watching his side miss out on the grand slam against Ireland.
England gain "minor satisfaction" in title success after "horrible" performance
England manager Martin Johnson could not hide his unhappiness after watching his side miss out on the RBS Six Nations grand slam against Ireland in Dublin.
Johnson's side crashed to a 24-8 defeat at the Aviva Stadium, with Tommy Bowe and Brian O'Driscoll scoring tries for Ireland in what was a fine overall display by the home side.
Jonathan Sexton also kicked four penalties as the hopes Johnson's men had of emulating England's 2003 slam success came crashing to a halt.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the loss, Johnson said: "We're desperately disappointed, (a) not to have won the game and (b) the way we lost.
"They outplayed us, we had a horrible first half and did everything we talk about not doing away from home - we compounded errors and they got a couple on us at the breakdown."
Asked whether his side had struggled with the pressure of a potential clean sweep, he said: "Pressure is the name of the game. We've got a lot doing this for the first time and there were a few errors.
Savvy
"Ireland are a savvy team, full of pride, and we've got what we've got - a team of good young players. Everyone's got a win and a loss in them, you get that if you don't play well and we got it today."
He added: "It was horrible today, our best two attacking moves in the second half ended with us giving the ball straight to them.
"If everyone makes one mistake, that's 15 mistakes and it was that kind of day today.
"We came here to win the game and we've fallen way short. It's just disappointing, we could have been better."
England breached the whitewash just once with substitute Steve Thompson picking off an interception try but Johnson later bristled at the suggestion the performance was a backward step in what is a World Cup year.
"It's all rugby. Winning the breakdown is rugby. Kicking for the corners is rugby," he said.
"Ireland played a very good Test match today. We've had good balance in our games to date.
"Winning Test matches is about a lot of things, not just what people call 'playing rugby'.
"Playing rugby is about putting points on the board and we were second today."
Johnson may have described England's performance as horrible yet they still claimed the Six Nations title after France later beat Wales 28-9.
Nick Easter, who captained England on the day after Mike Tindall was ruled out injured, admitted he felt uncomfortable lifting the trophy after the grand slam disappointment.
"In the grand scheme of things we missed out on the big one and by quite a bit to be honest," Easter said.
Minor satisfaction
"The title is of very minor satisfaction. The way we lost and what we lost, the prize at the end, there is a lot of hurt in there.
"Lifting the trophy was an empty feeling. You don't want to do that on the back of a loss, especially a loss like that.
"I suppose it is a complement to the strides we have taken this year. There is a little something for the effort we put in but it is of minor significance.
"We were well beaten today. That will hurt but with a young side, a relatively inexperienced side, we will carry that forward and become stronger on the back of it."
