England to learn from Dublin defeat, says Saints hooker Hartley

Hartley and Co came close to claiming a record 19th Test victory in a row, but were edged out by the home side in Dublin.

Three Owen Farrell penalties were not enough for England, who had already won the Six Nations but could not complete a second successive Grand Slam.

Iain Henderson's try, allied with eight points from the boot of fly-half Jonny Sexton, won it for Ireland.

And Saints hooker Hartley, who once again skippered England, said: "Lessons were learned today.

"We set out to win the tournament and we've done that.

"Obviously it's disappointing not to win this final game because we had high hopes and high expectations of ourselves, but it goes to show we're not quite there yet as a team.

"Full credit to Ireland. They put us under unbelievable pressure and it was a hell of a Test match so great credit to them."

England were never able to get in front at the Aviva Stadium as Ireland turned up the heat in the first half.

And Hartley added: "It was negative upon negative.

"We seemed to back every error up with another one and gave them good field position.

"They executed well so we're not the finish article, this will keep us grounded and we've got plenty of work to do.

"Full credit to Ireland and this atmosphere was a great one to play in."