Mark Evans: Cut air supply, win the day

For all the talk of continuity, offloading and footwork that continually dominates discussion of the modern game, there is still a good deal to be said for the old-fashioned virtues of set-piece dominance, field position and pressure.

The first half at Twickenham saw Ireland's line-out supremacy creating 12 points while all England's points came from their disruption of the Irish scrummage. In all honesty, England were lucky to be as close as they were at the break. It couldn't last and in the end the control of the Irish defensive line-out pods was total. Although England jacked up their intensity in a frantic final quarter they were, in truth, never in control of the game. You simply can't lose more than 10 of your own line-out throws and really hope to win at this level. Although the England scrummage nearly pulled the match back in the dying seconds, the team as a whole lacked composure.

On a wet day with a slippery ball the much-vaunted but experimental England back four were largely anonymous. Indeed, it was a surprise to find that Ben Cohen was on the pitch when his try was disallowed in the first minute of the second period. A great break by Paul Grayson followed by a wonderful offload from Will Greenwood meant that it looked odds-on that Iain Balshaw and Cohen would finish it all off and set the world champions on a well-worn road to victory.

However, the pass from Balshaw was too early and Cohen instinctively wriggled instead of stretching out his free arm to secure the score that was on offer. It was only one part of a pretty miserable afternoon's work by the Bath full-back; he was eventually put out of his misery before the final quarter. But the backs were largely peripheral - with the exception of Gordon D'Arcy who was quite outstanding - the main men were all forwards.

And into this let's not be afraid to place the world's best centre. Put very simply, Brian O'Driscoll, after a good first 10 minutes, was dreadful. Turned over in the tackle, knock-ons, sliced kicks, embarrassing drop-goal attempts - he went through the whole repertoire. There is no doubting his influence on the team but yesterday his individual performance was woeful. At times he had chances to take opponents on one-on-one. A couple of years ago he would have done so instinctively. Now he seems to want to show everyone what a good all-round player he is. An impossible 30-yard attempted pass ruined a promising attack in which there was a great opportunity for him to run at the England midfield. He needs to have a long, hard look at the way he's playing at the moment.

But up front, Ireland carried on from their excellent showing versus Wales. Their only significant weakness is that John Hayes is not a tight-head scrummager of the highest order. Every now and again he loses concentration and this led directly to England's try. Otherwise, the Irish eight were outstanding. Their driving play put England in the shade and their ball carrying was first-class. Add to this their obvious dominance of the line-outs and you have a situation where an England pack were played off the park for the first time in ages. Ireland did exactly the same to the Australian pack at the World Cup but were not able to close the game out. This time they did and deserved the win.

Let's hope that England's hookers Steve Thompson and Mark Regan don't take the entire blame for an abysmal set-piece performance. It was England's line-out systems that failed rather than the two hookers' accuracy. Time and again the Irish created a situation whereby an Irishman went soaring up alongside an English jumper. When that happens the odds are always in favour of the defending team, who are looking to intercept or disrupt rather than catch the ball cleanly. England have traditionally run systems which rely on speed and accuracy rather than freeing up an unopposed jumper with the use of decoys and switches. They may well have to re-examine this strategy.

It would be surprising to see too many changes to the England team (although Ireland will get even better if they can get Geordan Murphy back as soon as possible). But surely the back three will be rejigged and a genuine outside-centre reintroduced. Up front there may well be second chances all round but a fair number will have been put on notice. Already the memories of Sydney are fading; in sport they always do.