England did fall short but have grown so much

All those knocking the team are missing the crucial point. England, collectively and individually, have made significant progress with the emergence of young players such as Alex Corbisiero and Tom Wood, who weren't on the radar 12 months ago.

Ben Foden, Ben Youngs, Toby Flood, Chris Ashton, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes and James Haskell all now have Test experience and are only going to get better. Last year we were third and now we are the champions, which makes a mockery of the idea this has been some kind of disaster. The players have found out things about themselves and their team-mates they didn't know a year ago and will be better for that.

You can understand the disappointment expressed by the England players because they were aiming for a Grand Slam. There is honesty and transparency in this squad and those are the hallmarks of Martin Johnson. Johnno is growing into the team manager role and will not overreact to this defeat.

Against a very good Irish side, we showed our inexperience and the players now understand how hard it is to win a Grand Slam. I was fortunate to win three in my first five years with England and didn't get another one for eight years, even though we were consistently the best side in the competition.

After Saturday's match, people were telling me England had lost the game, but my view was that you actually had to be in the game to lose it. England weren't because of the way Ireland played.

We said after England lost to South Africa in November that the players will not be found wanting for physicality when they meet the Springboks next time and this final Six Nations match was another important lesson for the squad.

The players had the pressure of going into a game as close favourites after four successive wins and came up against an Irish side that used their nous and experience to win.

The players are now back with their clubs for key European and Premiership fixtures and that means any thoughts of the World Cup are now put to one side.

Johnno has shown in this Six Nations that you cannot wrap your players up in cotton wool and we are still six months away from the start of the tournament and we need everyone match hardened and in good form.

Some of the squad are striving for European and Premiership titles and those will be big games. My attitude was always if you take your foot off the gas in the club games you may not make the World Cup squad. There will be some very tough decisions and remember that in 2003 Simon Shaw, Austin Healey and Graham Rowntree didn't even make the initial squad. The fact is players get injured and, as a player, you never know what's coming around the corner.

We go into the World Cup as European champions and looking at the draw, there isn't anything that really scares me. In the latter stages it will come down to what happens on the day and as Ireland showed, anything can!

At the end of what has been a very good RBS Six Nations I would nominate this XV for England's opening World Cup match against Argentina with Wood very unlucky not to start, but he is a key man from the bench.

Team: Ben Foden; Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall, Shontayne Hape, Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Alex Corbisiero, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Tom Palmer, Louis Deacon, James Haskell, Nick Easter, Lewis Moody (capt).