The good, the bad and a bonus-point Twickenham win

You'd have to have a lot of credit in the bank to call Ireland’s bonus-point win at Twickenham "crap".

So Jamie Heaslip’s 100 international caps, three Six Nations’s titles, a Lions series win, over 200 Leinster appearances, three Champions Cups, a Challenge Cup, and three Pro12 titles just about entitles him to give such an opinion.

The former Ireland number 8 has played against England six times at the London venue, winning just once.

"Sometimes, you play crap, right? You can’t help it. Mistakes keep happening. But quality sides still figure a way to win," he said after the 32-15 victory that keeps Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations title hopes alive.

"Lots of matches I’ve played in in my career have been bizarre," captain Johnny Sexton insisted, after checking that the question wasn’t referring to Manchester United’s Premier League win over Tottenham that was just coming to an end as his press conference started.

But the out-half would have been pressed to find an example of a game where his side racked up 19 handling errors, conceded almost double the number of penalties as their opponents (15 v 8), were penalised six times at scrum by a team with seven forwards and a winger, and still won by three scores.

"Two years ago we would have lost that game," he added, alluding to the progress made under Andy Farrell. He's not wrong there.

"We wouldn’t have the composure to regroup, this week we prepared and the mental resilience stuff we have put in has helped."

At various stages against Italy two weeks ago Ireland played against 14, 13 and 12 men and they actually spoke about the mental danger that comes with that scenario whereby players are over-eager and make decisions they wouldn’t make in front of a full defence.

That crept in