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Momentum is a key facet of rugby and it will be interesting to see how Ireland respond after the 13 -10 Six Nations defeat to England.

The Championship is still an open possibility for Joe Schmidt's team if they can overcome Italy and France.

But what can positives and negatives can be gleaned from the Twickenham loss?

To answer that, we were joined on the line by Bernard Jackman and Liam Toland. 

"It was an incredibly cagey, physical performance. I think the thing for Ireland was that it was our first away game under Schmidt. We were out-powered in terms of athleticism but I think our superior technique kept us in the game. I thought our defence was very, very good and discipline was very good again," said Bernard who was also happy with the decision-making around the ruck.

He was also satisfied with the game-plan, but thinks Schmidt will be frustrated that small details went amiss. 

"We don't have a big, athletic back. It's harder and you have to be very accurate because you really have to manipulate the defence to create those potential two on ones and mismatches. Whereas England, to a certain extent, could rely on sheer power. But I think there were a lot of positives about the performance and I think we'll still win the Championship." 

But Bernard was disappointed by the lessened impact of the maul and the inability to close out tight matches.

Liam picked up that ball and carried it. 

"When you get ahead at Twickenham, you need to kill off England and I thought they were wobbling. That's where your kicking game comes in and the obvious one was the restart which was an unfortunate one," said Liam.

"For me, the command group that is your 9 and 10, I'm not 100 per cent sure that they grabbed the fixture by the scruff of the neck as much as they would have liked. They're lessons learned as well."

Image: Ireland’s Paul O'Connell after the match ©INPHO/Billy Stickland