Ireland's already dismal World Cup preparations suffered a fresh blow on Saturday night when the flanker David Wallace was ruled out of the competition. The Munster player suffered what is almost certainly a serious knee ligament injury when he crumpled under a Manu Tuilagi challenge in the first half.

"We don't know the exact prognosis yet, but it was a bad bang on the knee and unfortunately it will definitely rule him out of the World Cup," said Ireland's coach, Declan Kidney. "He took it like the man he is. These things happen unfortunately and you have to deal with them.

"He's 35 now but I've never seen a man as physically fit as he is right now, never. It's heartbreak for him and his family and extremely disappointing for us. It'll be good news for someone else which is the cut-throat nature of sport.

"We obviously have contingency plans, that's why we brought 44 into training. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to give out any names. We'll do that once we've made the decision and informed all the relevant people."

The mood in the room had been decidedly lighter when Martin Johnson had sat in the same chair as Kidney 15 minutes earlier. That unmistakeable frown that had been so deeply rutted after the Wales match was gone, and he even managed to crack the occasional smile.

"We knew we needed to perform and step up from the last two games," said the England team manager. "We really wanted to turn opportunities into points and that's what we did.

"We had a little blip for 10 minutes when we lost control, but we overcame that and defended really well at the end. I thought we adapted really well to the conditions.

"I just want to say well done to the boys because we had a lot of disruptions with injuries. We lost Tom Wood and Nick Easter, but we handled it very well. It could have been an easy excuse but we didn't use it as one. We handled the whole thing really well and I'm just extremely pleased. The challenge now is to build on this win."

Mike Tindall, the England captain, was even chirpier. The last time the big centre was in this stadium he saw a grand slam slip between his fingers, so not surprisingly he took a good deal of satisfaction from making amends this time. "The way that we approached this game we knew we had to win to get on that game [against Argentine at the World Cup] in good condition. We spoke last night in a team meeting about the feeling we had here after the Six Nations and after the defeat to Wales.

"I thought the way the boys fronted up at the start was excellent. We didn't give Ireland the strong start that they had in the Six Nations. We kept the pressure up all the way through. There were patches when they had the ball and were on top, but our defence was outstanding.

"The physicality the forwards showed around the breakdown and after lineouts was outstanding. It was hugely encouraging for us every time they kicked to the corner and got nothing from it."

The England captain also made a point of complimenting the explosive impact that his centre partner Tuilagi had on the match. "You saw the raw power that Manu's got and the raw talent, and every time he takes the field in that shirt I think he's going to grow and get better and better.

"He's just a hugely powerful guy, but he's got great pace as well, so he's a huge asset. You know that if there's nothing else on you can just throw it to him and he'll make hard yards. Everyone played their part today though and it's a hugely satisfying result.

"It's hard to put into words just how important a win like that is because it's vital to go to a World Cup with momentum and we're all looking forward to getting out there now. "