Borthwick: It's tough but we're improving

ENGLAND coach Steve Borthwick was disappointed with his side's second-half collapse yesterday which handed Ireland a 27-22 opening Six Nations win in Dublin but insisted there were plenty of positives.

-  ADAM HATAHWAY

"We want to win every game and we didn't today but we have made progress," said Borthwick. "If you look at the game, you see an Ireland team that has been together for such a long time with over 1,200 caps and an England team that has been together for six months and has half that number.

"Ireland are such an experienced team and have been world class for so long - it was a tough Test match and that experience showed in the third quarter. We gave them field position and scoreboard pressure in a critical period. But I am very proud of the way the players attacked the game in the first half and how they came back to score a couple of tries to get the bonus point.

"Ultimately, we came up short and that is disappointing. We will ensure we are better next week against France."

New captain Maro Itoje echoed his coach's words, admitting he was baffled by the way they tailed off in the second period when they could hardly get out of their own half.