Johnson - proud of side's victory.

England captain Martin Johnson on Sunday spoke of his delight after his side finally ended their run of Grand Slam defeats with a 42-6 triumph over Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

Johnson, the only man to skipper two Lions tours, captained England for the first time in a Grand Slam game and he could hardly have wished for a better outcome.

"It is nice to get it (Grand Slam) won, of course it is," Johnson said.

"If we had lost today, it would have been horrible - a nightmare - but we've come away from home against the form team in the championships and had a great victory.

"It is good for the team to have won a big pressure game. Winning the Grand Slam is a great achievement, and it is certainly a lot better when you win it.

"It was pretty fast and pretty open. The game was fast and loose, which suits us."

England fly-half hero Jonny Wilkinson added: "The overriding emotion is one of a great deal of satisfaction at finally crossing that last hurdle.

"It is a nice way to go into the rest of the season, and we took a step forward today.

"We faced a very strong, world-class Ireland side, and now we have got to make sure that we keep moving in the right direction."

Johnson dismissed the pre-match confusion over where his players should stand for the introductions as "a fuss about nothing".

Just moments before being introduced to Irish President Mary McAleese, Johnson was involved in a row when he refused to move his England players who had positioned themselves on the left-hand side of the pitch which apparently is where Ireland's players customarily line up at Lansdowne Road.

The Irish, who ran out second, therefore lined up alongside England on the same side of the pitch, throwing out the geography of the prepared carpeted ceremony.

When asked to shuffle his players 20-metres sideways, Johnson's reaction was blunt.

"We lined up and someone said we had to move," said Johnson. "I said no and explained that we were playing this way.

"No one said anything to us before the game that we had to line up there. We lined up on our side of the pitch as you do in every international. We were defending that end so we walked out at that end.

"With due respect to the Irish President people don't come here to watch the presentations. They come here to watch a game of rugby. It's all a fuss about nothing."

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