LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - England's performance in their record 42-21 Twickenham thrashing by Ireland on Saturday was a combination of technical and tactical failures but the overriding feeling was that the visitors had showed more intent in everything they did.
The day was encapsulated 10 minutes from time when Ireland centre Stuart McCloskey set off on a lung-bursting 60-metre chase of Marcus Smith, who looked certain to score. McCloskey's refusal to accept the seemingly lost cause got to the England replacement fullback, who clearly felt he did not have the pace to reach the line, checked, and was hauled into touch by the Ulsterman.
Ireland coach Andy Farrell punched the air in recognition of the sort of attitude he prizes above talent, and thousands of dejected England fans began streaming out of the stadium.
A week ago, on the back of a 12-game unbeaten run, England found themselves 17-0 down to Scotland en route to a 31-20 defeat. It was even worse on Saturday as Ireland raced to a 22-0 lead after half an hour.
As well as being comfortably Ireland's biggest win at Twickenham it was also the third-highest points tally England have conceded at home, following a 53-10 defeat by France in 2023 and a 42-6 rout by South Africa in 2008.
England coach Steve Borthwick said his team had paid the price for failing to turn early pressure into points.
"Two weeks ago, people were talking about us being 12 wins on the bounce and saying all kinds of positive things about this team and they weren't all true," he told a press conference.
"Now, after two losses, people will be saying other things about this team. They won't be true either. The truth will be somewhere in the middle where we're a team that's got plenty of work to do. In the last two weeks, we've played against two high-quality teams and they've been better than us."
Borthwick pointed to promising early opportunities his players failed to capitalise on.
"The possessions we had close to the line, the number of breaks and half-breaks - that told me that the players were very focused on what they needed to do," he said.
"For two weeks now, we've given ourselves a mountain to climb. We'll be looking closely at that and how I set the team up to make sure that doesn't happen again."
It was hardly the way captain Maro Itoje wanted to mark his 100th cap.
"In the first half we turned the ball over too much, when we did get in their half we weren't clinical," Itoje said. "As players we have to own it. We have to take responsibility and make sure we're better.
"Ultimately, we weren't accurate. We got into good positions. We didn't come away with points or score. We know it's not good enough. We'll be working harder to get it right."
England have a two-week break to try to work out what has gone wrong. They finish the championship with away games against Italy and France.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
