Simon Easterby delighted as Ireland 'find a way' to win

Simon Easterby praised his side's determination as they made a winning start to their Guinness Six Nations title defence.

Ireland got their three-in-a-row bid up and winning with a dominant second half performance seeing them hold off England 27-22, a scoreline that flattered the visitors, who scored two tries in the final five minutes to pick up a losing bonus-point.

It was a first game in charge for interim Ireland head coach Simon Easterby as he steps up to the top job while Andy Farrell is away on British and Irish Lions duty.

And the new boss was delighted at his side's persistence to eventually pull clear in the final quarter.

"We had to find a way," Easterby (below) told RTÉ Sport. I thought we played well in patches in the first half, we didn't quite get our accuracy right, and that's probably why the scoreline was in their favour.

Ireland found themselves 10-5 down at half time after an error-strewn 40 minutes that was frustratingly reminiscent of their Autumn Nations Series campaign.

There were 15 handling errors in that opening period, with just seven in the second half of the game.

And the Ireland coach said that improved accuracy was key to victory.

"I think the first half, it's first round of the Six Nations, England here in Dublin, it's always going to be a bit of an arm-wrestle. It's nothing we didn't expect.

"We felt at half time if we did a few things better, that we would get the rewards, and we did that.

"Like I say, our accuracy. We had lots of opportunities in their 22, but didn't quite make the most of them. They defended well and made it tough for us.

"I think on reflection we'll be happy with the way our setpiece went, and we set up some lovely opportunities through that.

"Up until the last couple of