Steve Borthwick going back to the drawing board after England’s loss to Ireland

Steve Borthwick is to conduct a thorough review of his team to prevent England’s Guinness Six Nations from unravelling further in the wake of a 42-21 mauling by Ireland at Allianz Stadium.

England followed up their emphatic defeat by Scotland in Edinburgh with another dismal performance that removes them from title contention as early as the third round.

From the moment Ireland seized a 22-0 lead inside the opening half hour, the writing was on the wall in a first loss at Twickenham since November 2024.

“It was bitterly disappointing and huge credit to Ireland, they took their chances and their kicking game was excellent,” head coach Borthwick said.

“This team has been very, very good for a 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.

“Unfortunately for two weeks now we have given ourselves a mountain to climb, given the opposition too many points and we have not got scoreboard presence.

“We will be looking closely at that and how I set the team up to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

George Ford drew ironic cheers from the crowd when he eventually found touch having failed to send two penalties into the stands, and he was one of many players to struggle against the Irish.

“George has done so much good for England for such a long period of time and particularly over the last spell. He was outstanding in the autumn and played really well here against Wales,” Borthwick said.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell savoured a memorable afternoon following a record win at Twickenham.

The visitors silenced some of their critics with a ruthless display to build on last weekend’s nervy win over Italy and belatedly respond to an emphatic round-one loss away to France.

Ireland, whose previous biggest victory in south-west London was a 32-15 success in 2022, were congratulated in the changing room by Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

“It’s a special day, it 100 per cent is, to come here and perform like that,” said Farrell. “We’d obviously be delighted with that.

“But even more so than that for us, I thought the respect that the lads showed for one other out there on the field was immense, the respect they showed for the jersey and what it meant to them, and the respect for the Irish people.

“To learn some lessons and grow as a team was the overriding feeling for me.

“We just had the Taoiseach in the changing rooms there. We spoke as a group after that as well. It is special. It is special.

“I said it to the lads I didn’t care whether we won or lost, just whether we grew as a group because we know where we want to go to and it just so happens that to the people of Ireland winning does matter.

“It brings a bit of joy on everyone’s face so, for them, I mean the crowd, the people that turned up, it was immense. I hope everyone at home is just as proud as well.”