The pain of defeat in Dublin is timely and should stand Martin Johnson's squad in good stead for the World Cup
England may have missed out on the grand slam but all is far from lost. They remain Europe's strongest prospect for the World Cup later this year, but they need to gain from the pain of a surprisingly one-sided defeat in Dublin.
You knew the way the game was going to go after only 10 minutes. England could not get hold of the ball and became embroiled in debates with the referee, Bryce Lawrence. He was awful, inconsistent and arbitrary, someone who will have coaches shaking their heads if he takes one of their games at the World Cup, but he was bad for both sides. Ireland won because they were better on the evening, far better.
It was an occasion that showed the value of experience. Ireland had leaders throughout their side, hardened campaigners, while England were without their two captains this season, Lewis Moody and Mike Tindall, and lacked a steadying influence as the waters become choppy.
In one sense, defeat was good for England. Had they won the grand slam it would have come too easily to them. From my experience, you learn far more from when you are hurting than when you are feeling good. What we achieved in 2003 was honed on moments of intense pain.
There are areas England have to look at, starting with the midfield. I think Matt Banahan has the potential to become an outside-centre of international quality, but his partnership with Shontayne Hape suffered because of the quality of the players they were up against, Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, who created a new record in terms of caps for a centre combination in international rugby.
Banahan is a wing learning about centre play while Hape has spent most of his career in rugby league. They were always going to struggle and Banahan would have benefited from an inside?centre in the mould of Riki Flutey, a distributor who sees what is in front of him.
Toby Flood and Ben Youngs will not have many worse days, but they have been world-class this season. They will learn to mix up their games ? that England did not kick to the corners at times, as Ireland did, was surprising. They were too predictable.
When Banahan took the kick-off from the grasp of Donncha O'Callaghan, it should have been the cue to test Keith Earls at full-back with a hanging garryowen. Banahan is one of the best chasers of kicks in the Premiership and he has a far greater reach than Earls, who was given an easy ride.
England are a young side and the World Cup has probably come too early for them. By 2015 they should be at their peak, but they can still make an impression in New Zealand. They should top their group ahead of Scotland and Argentina, putting them in line for a quarter-final against France.
The French enjoy facing New Zealand in the knockout stage, but not England, and while they ended their bizarre campaign on something of a high by beating Wales, it is not clear whether their coach, Marc Li�vremont, will remain in charge. If he does it will only be because the World Cup is so close, but France would then be in danger of replicating their football team at the South Africa World Cup last year, when the players had a public falling out with the manager and everything fell apart.
Wales and Ireland have shown in the Six Nations that they can be a handful on their day, but they lack consistency. Italy may have finished with the wooden spoon, but they can take more from the campaign than Scotland, having beaten France and been within a couple of minutes of toppling Ireland.
The Six Nations may not be much of a barometer when it comes to the World Cup, but it does prepare teams better than the Tri-Nations. New Zealand will, as usual, be the overwhelming favourite to win but when it comes to the do-or-die of a knockout match, they are invariably found wanting, unlike England, who need to grasp hold of some old values.
Ben Kay is co-commentator for ESPN's exclusive coverage of 43 Aviva Premiership Rugby games each season. Kay appears on Grand Slam Winners ? part of ESPN Classic's Six Nations coverage
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/mar/21/six-nations-2011-england-ireland
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