Of all the things high on the wish list beforehand, a start of substance would have been among the most useful.

But unlike last Saturday when Scotland were swatted about the place like patsies sent in to spar in the opening 10 minutes, England were the heavyweights from the off. They even had a try on the board within 74 seconds, Andy Goode's pass putting Jamie Noon in against Gordon D'Arcy with the try-line beckoning. D'Arcy did his best but momentum wasn't his friend and five points his forfeit.

So just the 39 points to overcome France, then. Not a bad week's work for a Weightwatchers disciple but a heavy load for an Ireland team . . . any team . . . at Twickenham. Nobody doubted that just the six needed for the Triple Crown would suffice.

Something which, indeed, they managed . . . albeit with the luck of a thousand horseshoes along the way.

First, Shane Horgan got in for a try which should have been halted twice . . . once by Ben Cohen and once by Rob Dickson, the Scottish touchjudge. Brian O'Driscoll's kick through skittered around in front of Cohen like a dropped ping-pong ball, causing him to slip slightly as he bent to pick it up and miss it completely. Horgan was on to it in a blink and flicked it forward across the try-line to dive on it for the five points.

Dickson, though, had . . . for reasons best known to himself . . . raised and lowered his flag as the ball kissed the touchline. Not for the first time in this Six Nations, Ireland got the run of the balls from the officials and picked up a try they shouldn't have been awarded. The English opener had been scrubbed out.

Them's the breaks, though.

These things level themselves out and all that. Five minutes later, Ireland were ahead, a statement-of-intent type maul sending the English pack back 20 minutes and drawing the penalty from Joe Worsley for collapsing it. Ronan O'Gara's kick swiped Ireland an 8-5 lead.

It wasn't exactly deserved but they weren't about to apologise for that. Instead, they kicked on and, for want of a better phrase, played all the rugby for the rest of the half. Twice they had men over at full flight and twice the dots weren't joined properly.

Jerry Flannery was the first of three Irish players running against two defenders but juggled the ball and lost the chance.

And later, O'Driscoll threw a pass high and behind D'Arcy who grasped at it onehanded, like a man clutching an apple while falling out of a tree. The Ireland captain got a reprieve, though, as the referee had been playing advantage. O'Gara's kick made it 11-5.

Even though Ireland handed the advantage straight back from the restart . . .

Goode kicking the gap to a meagre three points . . . Ireland went in happy with the performance at least, if not the scoreline. And when O'Gara and Goode swapped penalties just after half-time . . . Ireland encroaching from the restart once again . . . there was just over half an hour left with Ireland winning 1411.

So. Thirty minutes left and the year in the balance.

Funny how sports, seasons, careers even, often boil down to minute envelopes of time such as this, isn't it? Hold out and the past eight weeks have been a success, hold out not and the questions get tougher, the public attitude shriller.

They did their damndest.

England threw everything at them for a sustained assault over the next 10 minutes and although the line almost held, almost never paid any bills. In the end, it was Steve Borthwick, the lumbering lock, who trotted over for the try, Goode's conversion making it 18-14.

And yet Ireland came back at the home side again. This time, they got a little sliver of assistance from the other touch judge, Welshman Nigel Owens wrongly deciding that Ben Cohen's taking of a lineout to himself five metres from his own was illegal. But luck means nothing if you don't take it and run with it and when Leamy leapt and grabbed the line-out and touched down athletically over Moody and past Goode, Ireland found themselves 2118 ahead.

It was knife-edge stuff by now. Margins were way too tight to mention and it was nigh-on inevitable that a mistake would decide matters.

Simon Easterby and Paul O'Connell looked to have made them when giving away penalties that Goode converted.

But then Horgan stretched, strained and won the damn thing. To France the championship, to Ireland the Triple Crown. Mother never said there'd be days like this.