It was another defeat, but it was far removed from Paris.
Against France, Ireland snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but at Twickenham on Saturday, even the most biased of Irish supporter would probably concede that England were the better side.
The margin of victory – 11 points – may have flattered England, but not by much.
They looked sharper, more settled, and were organised at the set-piece, and reaped the rewards for their patience.
Bar a 15 minute spell where Ireland dominated at the start of the second half, Eddie Jones’ side were in control.
It may now be three games without a win, and Ireland may now sit fifth in the table, but reflection will show positives.
They didn’t throw the ball around with reckless abandon, but they were a damn sight more positive than they had been in the opening two rounds of the competition.
It even surprised England head coach Eddie Jones, who had been expecting his back three to be far busier in the air.
“As I said in the previous two weeks, Ireland are a superbly coached team. They’re very crafty at their rugby and we thought they’d be the same today.
“They did a few different things, they probably moved the ball wider than we thought they would, and they did that quite well.
“The thing about Ireland, they put a lot of questions to you. They probably kicked less today, so there wasn’t too much Aussie Rules out there.”
While Ireland still used the kicking game to attack, they targeted space over contact more often than they had done in previous games. They made seven line-breaks, compared to zero in each of the games against Wales and France.
With 24 defenders beaten, it’s more they managed in those two previous games combined.
The back row was more varied. They passed 19 times and ran 31 times, which was much more varied than the previous two games.
They attacked well and on more than one occasion, just couldn’t get the rub of the green.
First, Robbie Henshaw was stopped by a sensational piece of scramble defence from Jack Nowell.
It was born from some opportunism from Johnny Sexton, and some frontrow cuteness from Nathan White.
White took the ball against the grain, locking in Mako Vunipola, before popping off to Sexton, who had looped around the corner.
White’s job wasn’t finished, making sure that Vunipola took the tackle, creating the gap.
It’s hard to find fault with the move from an Irish point of view, Henshaw galloped down the wing, only stopped by a miraculous cover tackle.
Josh van der Flier was also stopped short, but on another day things could have been different.
The Leinster flanker and his teammates were confident he’d touched down inside the final ten minutes, but a trip to the TMO was inconclusive.
Rugby is about fine margins, and the extent of that was evident as the TMO watched his effort. Had Romain Poite asked the TMO “is there any reason I cannot award the try?”, rather than, “Try, yes or no?”, it probably would have been given.
However, with so many English bodies in the way, it couldn’t be awarded. Only Van der Flier himself will ever know if he managed to ground the ball.
It was an impressive debut for the 22-year-old. Nothing spectacular, but he was second to just Donnacha Ryan on the tackle count with 15. Three tackles missed won’t please him however, with the high standards he’s set for himself over the course of this season.
Stuart McCloskey looked nervous initially, but grew as the game went on, and his try saving tackle on Dylan Hartley in the first half kept Ireland in the game at a crucial stage of English dominance.
Ultan Dillane sparkled. He has something special. He was on the pitch for just 15 minutes, but he contributed massively. A starting berth in either of the games against Italy and Scotland looks in reach, and he looks like a player who will only get better with experience.
While there were positives, the lineout is an area that must be improved. It wobbled against Wales and France, but the wheels fell off it on Saturday. Seven lineouts from 11 is far too low a figure to be acceptable at test level, and a lot of work has to be done between Rory Best, his jumpers and his lifters before the final games at the Aviva Stadium.
It’s easy to blame a hooker for the throw, but if a jumper moves half a second too late, or a lifter doesn’t lock out enough, everything falls off kilter.
It malfunctioned at the most crucial stages of the game in English territory, and for an area of the game that has been one of Ireland’s strengths for several years, it needs to be rectified immediately, with Scotland’s Gray brothers both canny operators in the final game of the campaign.
