Ireland nudged their RBS 6 Nations title bid back on track with a stunning 43-13 demolition of the stricken world champions in a symbolic day at Croke Park on Saturday.

The host team were desparate to silence accusations they had choked in the heart-stopping 20-17 defeat by France nearly two weeks earlier.

The France match gave us experience and we got the start we wanted, taking the game by the scruff of the neck and imposing ourselves, said Leamy

We were very disappointed with our individual displays against the French. Collectively we wanted to roll up the sleeves - especially in the pack - and get on top of England.

Our scrum was very good, our line-out was very good and our general forward play and work at the breakdown was very good.

That was the kind of display weve been looking to put in for a long, long time. It has been coming for a while and it just happened to be against England.

The France defeat hurt us a lot so we were really up for it against England.

It was a remarkable performance that once again underlined Irelands enormous potential in the wake of thumping autumn victories over South Africa and Australia.

But Leamy, one of the many heroes at Croke Park, insists they must maintain the current level of performance if they are to mount a serious World Cup challenge in the autumn.

We need to get more consistency. If wed put in that performance against England after beating France the game before than I would have said we need to be taken seriously as World Cup contenders, he said.

The way the World Cup goes you cant afford to slip up and unless we learn the lessons of that France game we cant be considered as contenders.

But if play like we did against England on a consistent basis, then well be up there.

This win makes the France result harder to take. We know what were capable of and we didnt play well against them.