Kearney: England were marginally better

13:12, 11 Feb 2013

Ireland fullback Rob Kearney has admitted that England were only slightly better than Ireland yesterday in their Six Nations win at the Aviva.

In a game with no tries, England's victory came courtesy of four penalties from the metronomic Owen Farrell, with Ireland only able to score through two Ronan O'Gara strikes.

On a day when the heavens opened, the conditions meant that the Aviva crowd weren't to be treated to a try-fest, instead they had to endure the hard slog of an England victory, their first in Ireland in 10 years.

According to the Leinster man, it was in no small part to the wet weather.

Kearney said: "It was a nasty day, field position was a big thing for both teams and I think they played the tactics a little bit better on the day.

"It was one of those games where you are better off not having the ball, we had 58% of the possession, that is not necessarily a good thing, especially on a day like today.

"Today proved that the team with the less possession won and that is often the case on days like today when you don't particularly want the ball."

Kearney then admitted that the game came down to small margins on the day.

"They were marginally better, marginally smarter but the margins in these games are so tiny. Two penalties, we missed one penalty, that is one kick of the ball.

"So yes the margins are tiny."

The fullback still has hopes of gaining a Six Nations title despite the defeat.

He said: "It is by no means panic stations at all, there were only really a couple of kicks of the ball in it. This championship is still wide open.

"England are the only team to have won both games, they still have France and Wales to play, World Cup semi-finalists, they are not going to be easy games for them, so it is wide open."