KIERAN SHANNON: Another Slam is needed to mark this golden era

He was making a stand for sure, but when an unflinching Martin Johnson would not be moved from that red carpet in Lansdowne Road 10 years ago, no one could have known that year would represent a last stand for England too.

Although the life cycle of that team was approaching its climax in the form of Johnson holding the Webb Ellis aloft later that same year, the decline and disintegration of that team was far more sudden and spectacular than anyone at the time could have envisaged.

Put it like this — even though Ireland had also headed into that Lansdowne showdown one game from the Triple Crown, Slam and championship and were undoubtedly a side on the rise, could anyone have foreseen that over the next decade Ireland would win the head-to-head count between the countries in Six Nations clashes by a resounding 7-2? A setup that had moved worlds to become the best in the world would so suddenly and sure be reduced to routine whipping boys for their little neighbours across the sea. It is another measure of just what a remarkable period for Irish rugby this has been, in which time four Triple Crowns have been annexed. England over the same timeline have won none.