Robshaw: Victory in Dublin sends out right message

England captain Chris Robshaw believes his side put down a Grand Slam marker by beating Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

A determined forward effort and four successful penalties from Owen Farrell were enough to ensure England won their first tournament game in Dublin since 2003.

And following on from hugely impressive victories over New Zealand, in December, and Scotland in the opening game of the Six Nations, Stuart Lancaster’s men are strong favourites to win their first Grand Slam in a decade.

Matches with France and Italy at Twickenham will be followed by a potentially decisive shoot-out with Wales in Cardiff, but Robshaw believes the rest of the world know England now have a team to be reckoned with.

“We came here to put a marker down and we will build on that,” said Robshaw, who was named man of the match.

“We knew we hadn’t won here in 10 years and we knew why. We got it spot on.

“We are always fired up and the message was ‘no backward step’, whether it is little off-the-ball stuff or going after them from minute one and we did that.

“It was all about defence at the end of the day and someone like Owen kicking the goals.

“This win is right up there with the best but we know the challenge that is coming our way against France. They will want to put things right after two defeats and we have to be mentally right for the game.”

But it could have been a different outcome in Dublin, with the game hinging on how the two sides dealt with the 10 minutes while James Haskell was in the sin-bin.

The England flanker was shown a yellow card with the score at 6-6 but returned to find his side had a six point lead — one they were not to relinquish. And Haskell insists that his team-mates will not get carried away after they got him out of jail.

He said: “I think my life flashed before my eyes when I got the yellow and I thought if we lost, I may have to run straight out of the stadium! It is a credit to the coaches and the players on the pitch that we coped so well because it could have gone the other way in this weather. However, the boys dug really deep and I was delighted to get the opportunity to go back on and contribute.

“It was probably, in those conditions, easier not to have the ball. Andy Farrell has worked a lot with our defence and the guys were very passionate to get stuck into an Irish team with a lot of x-factor players.

“This is a very big win but we have an angry French team coming to Twickenham and having played there with Stade Francais, I know how dangerous they can be.

“We will have a fallow week to get our heads around it.

“No one will get carried away because we know the French can turn up and play one way and then a week later they are world beaters.

“The French don’t like losing and I am sure there will be a few changes.”