Eddie Jones had one simple message for his England team: “Be proud of yourselves boys.”

The head coach had just suffered his first defeat as England boss, 15 months after he took the job following the dismal 2015 Rugby World Cup showing. What followed was an 18-match winning streak, two Six Nations titles and, just, one Grand Slam, having seen the other slip away but an agonising five points.

But as it was, Jones had to field questions of what could have been following a 13-9 defeat in Dublin that echoed similar Six Nations final-weekend losses here in the Irish capital in 2001 and 2011. Yet he was quick to praise his side, both for their efforts on the day and their performances during the world record-equalling run that sees them well on course to meet Jones’s plan to win the next World Cup.

“We are Six Nations champions, back-to-back which is a fantastic achievement,” he said. “We’re joint world record holders, but we weren’t good enough today. And we have to accept we weren’t good enough today. Next time we get together as the full squad will be in November and we’ll look to right what happened today.”

He added: “We are 14 months into a four-year project as I have been saying. We have been chuffed with the results we have had but realism tells us we have still got a lot to do. We were caught in certain areas today and full credit to Ireland. There are brilliantly coached and they executed their plans well.

“We will learn from it. We are going to have more setbacks as we go to the World Cup. How many teams have a 90 per cent winning record at Test level – there are not too many, the All Blacks are the only ones and we have been doing that since the last World Cup.

“We are batting at a pretty good average – even Don Bradman got zero when he played his last Test. Obviously we are disappointed – but we will fight another day. It is not the end of the world.”

Ireland vs England player ratings Show all 32 1 /32 Ireland vs England player ratings Ireland vs England player ratings Ireland: 15. Rob Kearney- 7 Coped with everything that came his way and threatened on occasion. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 14. Tommy Bowe - 6 Posed Nowell problems in the air but starved of clean ball in space. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 13. Jared Payne - 7 Defensive work was of the highest calibre and didn’t put a foot wrong until injury forced him off. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 12. Robbie Henshaw - 9 Strong running caused England huge problems and leaped above Goode for try that won the game. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 11. Simon Zebo - 7 Excelled under the high ball as England continuously tested him and defended strongly. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 10. Jonathan Sexton - 9 Tackled ferociously and his genius kept Ireland on the attack before exit gave England a reprieve. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 9. Conor Murray - 8 Provided quick and clean ball behind dominant Irish pack and box-kicked for Henshaw’s try. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 1. Jack McGrath - 7 Kept Dan Cole quiet which is enough in itself, carried well and added force to the maul. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 2. Rory Best - 8 Unfaultable at the lineout, always had his hands on the ball in the maul and stood out in the pack. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 3. Mike Ross - 8 Scrummaging was miles better than in the past and he won the battle with Marler. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 4. Devin Toner - 9 Disrupted English lineout when Ireland were under pressure and outshone second-row partner O’Connell in the lineout. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 5. Paul O'Connell - 7 Battled to the very end with a late charge down and continues to defy his age of 35. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 6. Peter O'Mahony - 7 Carried well and was on the receiving end of some big runs, but stopped nearly everyone. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 7. Sean O'Brien - 5 His first rampaging run at Ford led to the injury that forced him off in a rather dazed fashion. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 8. Jordi Murphy - 8 In to replace Heaslip and paid back the favour with a brilliant display on the floor to win numerous penalties. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings Best off the bench: Tommy O'Donnell - 6 On for the injured O’Brien after 25 minutes and added running power where needed. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings England: 15. Alex Goode - 8 His kicking got better as the game went on and his dancing out of the deadball zone was sublime, but beaten in the air for the try. GETTY IMAGES Ireland vs England player ratings 14. Anthony Watson - 6 One second-half break threatened to open the game but panicked with a pass to thin air. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 13. Jonathan Joseph - 6 Given little chance to show his agile best and replaced when England’s chances were dying. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 12. Luther Burrell - 5 Didn’t put in his best shift and will be under pressure for selection against Scotland. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 11. Jack Nowell - 6 Picked in favour of Jonny May, and showed why with impressive pace, but targeted in the air. Ireland vs England player ratings 10. George Ford - 6 Missed penalty would have levelled it up early and two errant passes, but continues to learn at this level. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 9. Ben Youngs - 6 Caught at the base on occasion but passing was good enough before being withdrawn. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 1. Joe Marler - 5 Couldn’t find an edge on Ross which was a surprise and suffered as a result. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 2. Dylan Hartley - 6 Lost two lineouts and was absent in the loose, though his defence was commendable. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 3. Dan Cole - 7 Came to life late on with a barnstorming run over Healy and tried his best to snaffle a turnover or two. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 4. Dave Attwood - 5 Ill-disciplined throughout and was probably the most disappointing in white. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 5. George Kruis - 7 Disrupted the Irish maul very well and the fact he stayed on for the 80 shows how far he’s come. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 6. James Haskell - 6 Gave away an early penalty, and given no quarter at the ruck where he was caught isolated repeatedly. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 7. Chris Robshaw - 6 Tackling was as determined as ever but sloppy with ball in hand. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings 8. Billy Vunipola - 7 Another who improved as England grew into the game, but ran out of options after an impressive 40m break. Getty Images Ireland vs England player ratings Best of the bench: Richard Wigglesworth - 6 Injected some pace into England’s attack with two good breaks. Getty Images

Jones also addressed the alarming failure of the English lineout. The visitors, whether through tactical plan or reaction, chose not to compete in the air on Ireland’s throw, giving them clean, uncontested ball to attack with and reap the rewards. When Ireland kicked a penalty to touch instead of at posts, England chose not to compete in the air, and promptly found themselves under the posts following Iain Henderson’s decisive try.

England had a similar chance late on, with Owen Farrell turning down a kick to touch in the 73rd minute to go for touch. Up popped the Irish jumpers, and England lost the ball – and subsequently the match – by winning the battle in the air.

Englandmissed out on a second consecutive Grand Slam (Getty)

“That was pretty big. We will learn from that,” Jones said, before turning his attention to the lineout leader Maro Itoje. “We have got a young guy who is only 22, he is still studying at university. He is doing an essay this week on socio-economic status of Ghana or someone like that. I couldn’t understand what he was talking about.”

Itoje has had to take on the leadership role in the absence of his Saracens teammate, George Kruis, but Jones was not going to throw him to the wolves. “He had a hard day today and he will learn a lot from that. It is like being a tight-head prop, you learn a lot from failure and he will learn a lot from that today. These things sometimes help you in the long run.”

Itoje struggled to run the lineout (Getty) (Getty Images)

And rather than criticise his own players as you might imagine Jones would do in the hope of getting a reaction, the Australian wanted to stress just how good Ireland were on Saturday evening.

“I thought our effort today was good – I thought Ireland played superbly,” Jones added. “Ireland played really well – I thought we had them after half-time, they started to kick indiscriminately and we got some back to back positions. In the first half we couldn’t get our hands on the ball and when we did we gave it back to them.