England were crowned Six Nations champions for the second successive season last night - but their Grand Slam dream again became a nightmare.
After final hurdle collapses against Wales in 1999 and Scotland last year, England yet again failed to complete the 'Grand Slam' as Ireland claimed a deserved 20-14 victory.
It
was Ireland's first success against England since 1994, with the visitors sorely missing injured Lions forwards Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Phil Vickery.
Stand-in skipper Matt Dawson only lasted 37 minutes before he went off with what appeared to be a knee injury, and Ireland's heroes claimed a spectacular triumph.
Captain Keith Wood scored their solitary try - David Humphreys booted three penalties and his replacement Ronan O'Gara two - while Austin Healey grabbed a 76th-minute touchdown, but it was too little, too late.
Jonny Wilkinson kicked three penalties for England, but it was not enough, with Healey wrecking a great late chance when he knocked on under no pressure.
"It's happened again," sighed England coach Clive Woodward afterwards. "We deserved to lose and I can't believe how many errors we made.
"We had enough ball but we just made too many errors and our lineout was a disaster.
"We've being here before and we've just got to try to bounce back. We've got to learn and move on. It's a very disappointing day, especially for the players, but we've got to try to be positive about it," said Woodward.
