Although some of England's players were able to raise a wry smile whilst lifting the 6 nations trophy, Martin Johnson's men were desperately disappointed after once again falling at the final hurdle.
Admittedly, they never looked like troubling a disciplined Irish defence and duly left the Aviva stadium with an opportunistic try and a penalty. After the dust has settled however, maybe the English coaches and players will look back and see what good progress they have made over the past year or so.
After registering just 2 wins in the same championship last year, England now head for New Zealand flying the Northern Hemisphere flag and although their chances of lifting the William Webb Ellis trophy aren't great, they certainly appear to be greater than the rest of the European field.
Whether Kidney and co would argue that they also head down under with a genuine chance of glory remains to be seen, after all it was a professional display that saw them overcome England for the 5th time in 6 years last Saturday.
All is not doom and gloom for England however. 10 of the players that were fielded on Saturday were under the age of 25. With the likes of Tom Wood being a revelation this campaign and 21 year old prop Alex Corbisiero proving to be a worthy replacement for injury prone Andrew Sheridan, England can look forward to a bright future.
And when England next play at the end of May against the Barbarians at Twickenham, the likes of Courtney Lawes, Lewis Moody, Andrew Sheridan, Delon Armitage, Mike Tindall and Riki Flutey will all be hammering on Johnson's door demanding a place in the 15. It's this competition for places that the best sides have, and arguably, Twickenham has found it.
England were ranked fourth in the world prior to kick off on Saturday, and although they have now been leapfrogged by Ireland, Johnson has reason to be positive going into the global gathering. Reaching a semi-final would be a great achievement, the final would be higher than any expectations, but when you consider the England class of '07 did that last time with nowhere near the talent, stability and confidence of this group, there is no point in setting limits.
Added to this, Six Nations champions going into a World Cup hold a solid record. In the six previous editions, the Five/Six Nations champions from that year have reached three finals (France 1987, England 1991, England 2003) and two semi-finals (England 1995, France 2007). Only Scotland, the final Five Nations champions in 1999, failed to progress beyond the last eight.
Despite the positivity, the wounds that the Irish have left on proud English hearts remain deep and full of vengeance.
