Six Nations 2021: Ireland set the standard with Six Nations win over England - Sexton
Ireland set the standard for future performances in wrapping up their Six Nations campaign with a 32-18 win over England, according to captain Johnny Sexton.
First-half tries from Keith Earls and Jack Conan - along with 22 points from the boot of Sexton - helped Andy Farrell's side claim a convincing victory in Dublin.
Ireland's place in the standings will only be decided when France meet Scotland in the tournament's final fixture next week.
But, whether he and his team-mates are leapfrogged in second place or not, Sexton had one major positive to take from the 2021 Six Nations.
He told ITV: "It was brilliant. We felt like we weren't far away all through the championship and it kind of clicked in some things.
"There's still lots of stuff we can improve on and get better, but that was the performance we wanted against a top-quality side.
"[England are] one of the best sides in the world, who we have massive respect for - their players, their coaches, everyone - so that's the standard we've set now and hopefully we can keep backing it up and become more consistent.
"I said to the boys last night that the only worry we should have is about backing up today and we put in a performance that will make us think twice about some of the standards that we set in that game."
England added an arguably undeserved hint of respectability to the scoreline as they ran in late tries through Ben Youngs and Jonny May following Bundee Aki's dismissal just past the hour mark.
Sexton believes that sort of indiscipline had hampered Ireland throughout the tournament, and called for it to be eradicated.
He added: "We still felt we should have stopped the try - a missed tackle - but we showed great guts throughout the tournament.
"Sometimes when you don't take your chances, your performances are made out to be worse than they actually are.
"The first game, we go down to 14, and indiscipline is still an issue at times. And against France, small margins, all these games.
"Both of these teams could have been going for a championship today or a Grand Slam so they are the margins we have to make up next time we come together."
England put their points on the board through two Owen Farrell penalties - the second of which brought up his 500th Six Nations point - early in the first half and that late flurry of tries.
That left flanker Tom Curry rueing a failure to compete with Ireland in the "middle section" of the game.
"I'm obviously very disappointed. It's pretty gutting," he said.
"We knew it was going to be a really physical encounter. The past three times we have played them it has been all about physicality and today was no different.
"A bit of discipline cost us here and there. In the last 20 we showed a bit more of a glimpse of what we're about.
"It was that middle section where we need to back it up and we probably didn't do that today."
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