England must ring changes after humiliation by Ireland

One abject defeat could be considered unfortunate, but two in as many weeks...? If England could feasibly write off the 31-20 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield as just a bad day at the office, especially given the amount of credit they built up during the 12 straight wins that preceded it, the 42-21 humiliation that followed against Ireland on home soil suddenly raises serious questions about the direction of this team.

- LUKE BAKER

England's recent Calcutta Cup record is decidedly dicey, particularly away from home, so, while the mental block in place against the Scots will need to be overcome eventually, the Edinburgh embarrassment was at least somewhat explicable. When a record home defeat to Ireland follows seven days later at Twickenham - a place that had remained a fortress for more than a year - with all the same issues plus a couple of additional ones for good measure, the questions start to become existential.

England were 17-0 down to Scotland after 15 minutes and allowed Ireland to put up 22 points before troubling the scorers themselves. Funnily enough, at Test level, you can't give teams a three or fourscore headstart and expect to come back.

“What do you do? Two weeks in a row conceding so many points in the first 15 minutes,” said a clearly frustrated Ellis Genge to BBC Sport after the Ireland loss. “There is a mountain to climb after that and everyone has to take a look at themselves.”

Warming to his theme, the always honest prop allowed his anger to build. “No one knows what the answer is right now, or we would have sorted it out,” he added. “It opened up scar tissue from last week. We have to be better at managing that period and stop turning the ball over.”

In his press conference, Borthwick agreed with his front-rower about the slow starts costing England dearly.

“This team has been very, very good for quite a long time in games that are tight, even if we go a score or two down, being very strong in that second half and always finding a way to win that second half,” explained the head coach.