ITOJE: PRIDE BUT COLLAPSE HARD TO DISSECT

ENGLAND skipper Maro Itoje admitted he was baffled by his side's second-half collapse against Ireland.England's demise after half-time saw them concede 22 unanswered points to derail any hopes of a first win in Dublin since 2019.

- BY ADAM HATHAWAY

They had led 10-5 at the break before conceding three tries, before late scores from Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman grabbed a losing bonus point.

Itoje said: "I thought the first half was fantastic. We did pretty much everything we wanted to. We lost territory though in the second half and struggled to exit. It is hard to dissect what the reason is right now but it was a territory thing.