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While the chance of an Irish Grand Slam fizzled away at Twickenham, Joe Schmidt's side can still dream of a Six Nations championship win.
With games against Italy and France still to come, Gerry Thornley and Keith Wood gave their take on Ireland's chances and also tackled some of the big talking points.
One of those was Jonathan Sexton's performance and the toll that his Racing Metro commitments are taking on his form.
But Keith reckons that the fact that he moved to the hectic Top 14 straight after a post-Lions Tour hangover may be more telling.
"I will say that on the back of a Lions tour, you still need a break. It isn't even just physical. There is an emotional level. There is a degree of difficulty on a Lions Tour that is quite hard to fully explain but it is as intense a time to have in your rugby career and it does take a lot out of you. You just need to get away from it for a while but he didn't get that opportunity," said Keith.
Gerry took that point further, highlighting the sheer workload - and lack of downtime - Sexton has had to go through this season after choosing to join Racing. He also believes it is an injury waiting to happen.
"Coming off a Lions Tour, had Sexton still been at Leinster, he would have got a lot longer than a three week off-season - during which he got married. He has played 25 games this season where he would have played 16 at this point last season. If he plays this weekend in a massive match for Racing Metro, it will be his eighth game in eight consecutive weeks as opposed to had he been in the Irish setup where it would have been his fifth game in eight weeks. And of course he has these injury problems now which are being managed in Paris. It's not ideal"
Sexton could well be rested for the Italy game and Keith would prefer to see Leinster's Ian Madigan deputize for him rather than Ulster's Paddy Jackson.
He would also like to see Simon Zebo on the bench as would Gerry who did add that Schmidt is in regular contact with the Munster winger and wants him to iron out a few issues in his play.
