“He was probably a bigger loss because I don’t think our forwards would have minded who was in front of them. They were up for it and they really put in an effective performance.

“Maybe the leadership of Johnson played a part because he has the experience but Wilkinson was missed more because of how creative he can be.”

O’Gara’s 14-point haul – four penalties and the conversion of full-back Girvan Dempsey’s second half try after his initial fourth-minute penalty kick rebounded from the post – enabled him to celebrate today’s 27th birthday a night early.

Even the most fervent England supporter could not begrudge O’Gara and the Irish their celebrations after a great day but it did not start that way when the heavens opened over London prior to kick-off.

“We weren’t happy to see rain pouring down and didn’t want to be battling the conditions with a slippery ball,” said O’Gara.

But it did not stop Ireland striking the crucial blow when Dempsey finished a move described as “straight off the training field – delightful” by coach Eddie O’Sullivan.

O’Gara expanded on that by detailing just how Ireland had done their homework.

“The Italians had identified where to attack England and that was out wide but they didn’t retain the ball so our policy was to play from side to side, hold on to the ball and try and force them into penalties,” he said.

It worked and O’Gara described the pass from captain Brian O’Driscoll which eventually broke England as “outstanding” but said: “We had identified from video analysis that Josh Lewsey shoots up out of the line so Eddie got it spot on and that was what we were working on all week, playing with good width.”

The so-called luck of the Irish appeared to have deserted them when O’Gara missed his first kick but he took full responsibility, admitting: “I didn’t give it the due respect.

“I’ve been working very hard on my kicking and kicked very well at Lansdowne Road on Wednesday and then at Twickenham on Friday. I took about a hundred kicks and only missed three but that miss really focused the mind.”

Victory helped erase the World Cup disappointment where Ireland took eventual runners-up Australia down to the wire before losing their quarter-final.

“Against Australia we didn’t finish the job but here we did. Maybe England could have scored at the end but on balance we could have scored another two or three tries,” said O’Gara, who paid tribute to the “green maul” instilled by defensive coach Mike Ford.

“We’ve been working very hard on our defensive systems and I don’t think many of their ball carriers showed up wanting the ball.

“In any sport when you beat the world champions it has to be right up there [as one of the best matches of his 39-cap Ireland career] – and I don’t think it was a lucky win. It was a very good performance.

“We did our analysis, attacked them where we wanted to and defended very well. We matched them out of the backs, played better rugby than them and there was a mental toughness about us.

“There was an inner belief within all of us,” added O’Gara, who credited the superb centre partnership of O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy for his own assured display.

“That’s what you get with Brian and Gordon. I probably don’t know what they’re going to do, let alone England knowing, so it makes it comfortable for me.”

Victory has put Ireland back in the RSB 6 Nations title hunt and victory over Scotland will provide their first Triple Crown since 1985 but O’Gara warned against Ireland getting too carried away despite shattering England’s record 22-match winning run at Twickenham.

“An awful lot can happen in a short space of time. Who would have predicted us beating England here?” he said.

“It’s just important we strive for that level of consistency now. The next game’s Italy so we just have to enjoy the next few days and get back to basics.

“But it’s great we’ve won at Twickenham. We’ve done it at Lansdowne Road when we’ve been hanging on for dear life but it was more comfortable this time.

“We’ve given the people of Ireland a good time and the fellows at home can be proud.”