A day when Twickenham smiled again. A first win over Ireland in five years and a performance of some substance which yielded three tries by the backs and created some breathing space for Brian Ashton. Most of all, however, it should be remembered as the day that Danny Cipriani arrived. If anyone doubted that the 20-year-old could replace another famous left-footer, he gave them the most emphatic and memorable response.

It was a complete performance and showed the value of a fly-half who attracts defenders to him like a magnet. He passed deliciously too, with a bag of handling tricks, punted beautifully and kicked seven out of seven. He even managed to see the ball topple at one conversion, reset, slip on contact and watch the ball sail between the posts.

And Ireland? Eddie O’Sullivan must know his six-and-a-half-year reign is over as Ireland have had their worst championship finish since 1999. His team started brightly but gradually lost their way and by the end were verging on a shambles. Ronan O’Gara, who had started well, was a wreck, and the longer his teammates held onto the ball, the less convincing they appeared.

Ireland’s set-pieces held up well enough to provide ball but creativity was a problem, especially in midfield. Shane Horgan carried endlessly yet never remotely looked like unlocking the English midfield, where Jamie Noon was immense in every respect.

We had been promised some entertainment from two teams who had been horribly unambitious seven days previously and sure enough, the first quarter produced points at the rate of one a minute, evenly shared.

English supporters settled for that after a disastrous opening when O’Gara was the chief protagonist. His chip-and-chase signalled Ireland’s intention to play ball and within four minutes, their backs had ripped England apart. They got some assistance from England’s indiscipline at the lineout, conceding a penalty and free kick in the space of 30 seconds. A quick tap by Eoin Reddan on the England 22 and four passes later, Rob Kearney was crossing in the left corner.

While Horgan stood in at fly-half for this sequence, it was O’Gara’s pass, allied to Geordan Murphy’s line, that created the opening. Murphy waited until the precise moment to feed his winger on an inside line and Kearney had the athleticism to twist in the tackle and dot down. O’Gara’s conversion was the cherry on top.

Ireland continued to look more purposeful, O’Gara blatantly targeting Iain Balshaw. It worked, as Rory Best gobbled him up in the tackle and forced the penalty. O’Gara struck it and Ireland were 10 points up in seven minutes.

Were England stunned? Not Cipriani. As he had done for Wasps against Munster in Coventry last November, he took up O’Gara’s gauntlet and controlled the game with verve for the next half-hour. He started with pinpoint punting to drive Ireland back into their own half, then ignited his back-line with a stunning selection of passes. Noon seemed inspired, and when he put Nick Easter through a hole in midfield, only desperate scrambling by Kearney spoiled the chance.

The tone changed on 12 minutes, when Cipriani knocked over his first penalty with an insouciance that belied the pressure that was on him – what with Jonny and all that. As Cipriani was strutting back, Denis Leamy was departing injured to be replaced by Simon Easterby, which was hardly ideal.

It got better for England. Ireland’s lineout began to shake, with Tom Croft nicking a Best throw and Noon beginning to put the squeeze on Andrew Trimble in midfield. Noon’s video analysis showed Trimble has slow hands and Noon duly smashed him twice. Twickenham responded with appropriate enthusiasm.

England were attacking with more snap now also, encouraged to counter by Ireland’s kicking down the middle. They got their reward on the quarter-mark and indeed, it was from broken play. Paul Sackey started and finished it off, creating the momentum by brushing past Horgan and David Wallace. Michael Lipman and Andrew Sheridan made important contributions and then Cipriani put the ball wide to Noon, who delayed his scoring pass perfectly.