Simon Easterby's silence said more than any words could.
When the Ireland interim head coach was asked if he was disappointed about letting England in for two cheap tries in the final five minutes of Saturday's 27-22 Guinness Six Nations opener, his response was abrupt: "Yeah."
After spending the previous five minutes giving detailed, engaging answers to the media auditorium at the Aviva, that one word answer was understood loud and clear.
The six seconds of silence that followed hung in the air longer than a Conor Murray box-kick.
Considering the opposition, the stakes, and the reputation of the man he’s filling in for, Easterby will be delighted with Saturday’s win, and performance, which got Ireland up and running in their bid for an unprecedented three Six Nations titles in a row.
After navigating a sloppy first half, Ireland looked back to their very best in the second half as they rattled England for 22 unanswered points, which ensured that even those two late tries for the visitors would only put some respectability on the scoreboard.
With defence being Easterby’s regular brief in Farrell’s backroom team, it irked the interim coach how his side decelerated in the final five minutes to allow Tom Curry and then Tommy Freeman run in for tries, both of which saw Irish players fall off tackles.
While allowing England to rescue a bonus-point from a 27-10 position vexed the Irish coach, it was a day where the positives far outweighed the negatives.
The lineout, which looked disorganised in November, benefitted from an additional jumper in the back row, and produced a perfect 22 out of 22 on Ireland’s throw.
"It’s an area that Paul [O’Connell] and the players have worked incredibly hard at to make sure it’s a strength of ours
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