Edinburgh: Ireland coach Joe Schmidt paid tribute to his players after they claimed the Six Nations title following a dramatic final day of the tournament on Saturday.
Ireland won 40-10 in Scotland and England’s 55-35 victory over France left them six behind the Irish on points difference at the end of a thrilling tournament.
“It was tumultuous. Exhausting. It builds coronaries for coaches but it also builds character,” Schmidt told the BBC.
“I’m looking forward to being quite relaxed now. Hopefully we can keep going forward.
“I think I can speak for all the players, that they love the championship,” Schmidt added.
Schmidt said he approved of the competition’s format even though England knew what they needed to do before playing France.
“The super Saturday that people have got, I know people who had put aside the three slots in the day, and had apportioned various amounts of beverage for each slot,” he said.
“And I just wish that I was able to join them to be honest, because I would rather have been doing that than being sat in the pressure-cooker that we were in.
“But at the same time I wouldn’t swap with anyone, working with the group of men that I do, and the way that they prepare themselves and put their bodies on the line.”
Ireland captain Paul O’Connell scored his team’s first try against the Scots and praised his team mates after bouncing back from defeat by Wales in their last game to retain the title.
“To win a championship any year is fantastic,” the lock forward said.
“I’ve spent a lot of years in close calls and it’s been a great eight weeks.
“I think we’d be very proud of what we’ve done in terms of how we’ve addressed certain things in our performance, in attack, defence and our resolve to come out and produce a good performance like that after losing last week.
“I’m very proud of this squad over the last eight weeks.”
England did prevail 55-35 in an extraordinary game at Twickenham but it was not enough to deny Ireland a second successive crown.
England, knowing the monumental nature of their task at Twickenham, started superbly, scoring an early try through scrumhalf Ben Youngs.
But they were rocked by conceding two quick tries to Sebastien Tillous-Borde and Noa Nakaitaci which turned a 7-3 deficit into a 15-7 lead for France.
England hit back through Anthony Watson and Youngs to lead 27-15 at halftime and the tries continued to flow as Maxime Mermoz and George Ford each crossed under the posts.
Jack Nowell produced a brilliant finish for England but prop Vincent Debaty galloped 70 metres to reply for France.
Billy Vunipola bundled over and Benjamin Kayser did the same before Nowell’s second took England beyond their previous highest score against France, a 48-19 win in 2001.
The hosts pounded the line but France, who had conceded only two tries in their previous four games, held out, leaving 82,000 England fans breathless and hugely disappointed at the same time.
“I’m gutted really,” England coach Stuart Lancaster told the BBC.
“It was one of the most courageous performances I’ve seen from a team. It was an unbelievable game of rugby.
“The first two France tries hurt us. But to come back like we did -- it will go down as one of the great games of rugby.”
Wales finished third on points difference after also collecting eight points with France fourth on four points, Italy fifth on two and Scotland collecting the wooden spoon following five successive defeats.
