Though fuming as an Ireland fan, Brian O'Driscoll reflected that his country's loss to England on Saturday may have been a positive for the Six Nations championship.
Ireland went into Saturday's game in west London unbeaten in 11 Six Nations games, dating back to the second game of the 2022 championship, and were seeking a fifth successive win over England.
Andy Farrell's side were left stunned by a powerful English performance, as Twickenham rocked thanks to a last-minute winning drop goal from Marcus Smith.
FT: ENG 23-22 IRE
Marcus Smith wins it for England with the last kick of the game at Twickenham.
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Ireland's Grand Slam hopes are over, with England claiming their most significant win yet under Steve Borthwick.
The shock result at Twickenham came after several pundits had maligned the lack of quality from the chasing pack in this year's Six Nations - and Brian O'Driscoll suggested that it could breathe life into the championship.
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Brian O'Driscoll muses on thrilling day of Six Nations action
Earlier on Saturday, Italy had claimed their first home win in 11 years of Six Nations rugby with a dramatic two-point win over Scotland.
After much frustration from neutrals surrounding Ireland's dominance thus far in the Six Nations, their defeat coupled with Italy's win felt like a breath of fresh air for the championship.
Appearing on ITV post-match, Irish legend Brian O'Driscoll said that Saturday's results were two that the Six Nations "needed."
That was such an enjoyable test match for 79 minutes.
Well done England, well done. They showed real bottle there. It could have gone away at 17-8 when Ireland hit their groove, scored early in the second half. You thought, 'okay, Ireland have done nothing, they've created one opportunity and maybe this is the first of many.'
But England came back and scored immediately and got themselves right back in it. They just stayed in the game and gave themselves a shot with a couple of minutes to go, which they duly took.
It's a great game for the neutral and the Six Nations. We needed that. We really did [need this weekend].
Defeat to England ended Ireland's hopes of becoming the first team of the Six Nations era to win back-to-back Grand Slams.
Coming into the game with a points difference of +81, Ireland were the dominant force of the tournament. Some Irish pundits were accused of "arrogance" in presuming that Andy Farrell's men would set up a final weekend shot at a Grand Slam with relative ease by dispatching of England at Twickenham.
O'Driscoll said that Saturday's thriller summed up how difficult it was to win a Grand Slam - let alone two in a row.
From an Irish perspective, it's very disappointing, but it just shows the difficulty of trying to win back-to-back Grand Slams.
People say, 'one Grand Slam, sure it's only five teams?' But the fact is that nearly everyone - except Italy and England - have beaten one another. The mental fortitude needed to turn it on five games in a row is significant.
It just shows that you can have all the form in the world but if you get your head right and you get the belief going, then you get a bit of momentum in the game. It's a powerful combination.
Ireland are still strong favourites to win the Six Nations, but both England and Scotland go into the final weekend with an outside shot of wrestling the trophy from their grasp.
Scotland must travel to Dublin to face Ireland, whose destiny is still in their own hands (kick-off 4:45pm next Saturday). England, on the other hand, face a trip to Lyon to take on France in the final game of the Six Nations (8pm).
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