Sir Clive Woodward admitted yesterday that he had sensed England's Grand Slam defence would be derailed by Ireland, but warned his European rivals that the world champions had drawn strength from the result.

Ireland became the first team to triumph at Twickenham in a Test match since 1999, emerging convincing 19-13 winners.

While Woodward believes the whole squad - including himself - should shoulder the blame, he reckons the defeat was just what was needed to get his side firing on all cylinders again.

''The line-out was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what went wrong,'' he said.

''The guys in the line-out have been beating themselves up this week but they shouldn't be because the result was a combination of 100 different things.

''I'm very aware of what happened - the standard of our performance was not something I ever expected to see.

''How we lost by just six points is beyond me. Everyone has now been given a wake-up call, and that includes me. We didn't play well in Rome or Edinburgh and we knew we were going to lose sooner or later.

''We could feel the defeat coming before the Ireland game because it felt like we'd been skiing uphill all week. Playing for England is not about caps, it's about winning Tests. We're top of the tree and want to stay there, so it's good it's happened now.

''But just as we understand the reason behind our success over the last four years, we also know why we lost on Saturday - and that just makes you more confident. We are stronger because we know where we went wrong.''

Woodward has added two players to his squad for next week's match against Wales at Twickenham. Leicester prop Julian White and Sale Sharks hooker Andy Titterrell have been called up for training, and their presence should put pressure on Woodward's first choice front row.

Phil Vickery, Steve Thompson and Trevor Woodman hardly covered themselves in glory against Ireland.

White is on the comeback trail from knee surgery and Woodward will be keen to see how he performs for the Tigers against Northampton tomorrow.

Full-back Iain Balshaw is included in the 28-strong squad despite suffering from a groin strain, while Mike Tindall and Danny Grewcock could return against the Welsh following their recovery from injury.

* Mike Ruddock is relishing the prospect of coaching Wales after being named as Steve Hansen's successor yesterday.

The 44-year-old Gwent Dragons coach was the surprise choice of the Welsh Rugby Union to take over when New Zealander Hansen steps down at the end of the RBS 6 Nations Championship.

Ruddock did not even apply for the post until he was approached by the WRU on Monday. Llanelli Scarlets boss Gareth Jenkins and Harlequins' Mark Evans were believed to be the only names on the shortlist.