England 21-42 Ireland: Limp Red Roses’ Six Nations hopes go up in smoke as visitors make history with record win at Twickenham

With 10 minutes left in the game, England fans rose from their seats in the cold halls of Twickenham to drown their sorrows.

They’d rather line up in a bar than watch further humiliation from an increasingly weak Irish team.

Post-match assessments of England’s players’ survival to face Roma had begun long before Sam Underhill’s consolation try in the throes of the final.

Freddie Stewart? Henry Arundell? Fraser Dingwall? George Ford? Luke Cowan-Dickie? Henry Pollock? Even the great captain Maro Itoje may be under threat.

This was one of the worst days of Steve Borthwick’s tenure. Their systems failed.

England’s 12-match winning streak suddenly feels like a distant memory after suffering a second defeat in the championship. Their collapse has been remarkable and they now face the prospect of finishing in the bottom half of this year’s Six Nations.

Ireland rebel as England’s systems fail to record biggest ever victory on English rugby

The tone was set from the very beginning. Joe McCarthy pushed his arm towards Henry Pollock before James Ryan pinned the English teenager down.

Pollock writhed, Borthwick writhed, and Ireland revolted.

Borthwick predicted a state of euphoria, but this was the opposite of a carefree state of extreme happiness. Just ask hooker and full-back Cowan-Dickie and Steward as Ireland edged towards a record first half.

England’s line was faulty from the start. No-one jumped on Cowan-Dickie’s first throw-in and Tadhg Beirne pinched the first ball. With nine minutes left in England’s second line, Joe McCarthy made a turnover and caused a turnover. Jack Crowley kicked the opening points and the freebies kept coming.

Last year England were ahead of the rest with their competitive batting. They studied clips of NBA stars scrambling for rebounds around the rim and dominating their opponents in battles across the autumn sky.

It was a scientific approach backed by big data, but their competitors caught up and surpassed them. France and Scotland won more contested innings than England in the early rounds, where Robert Baloucoune easily beat Arundell in the air.

There were warning signs following last week’s defeat to Scotland but England did not react. Ford missed routine contact kicks, Pollock fell short of the gain line and Steward fumbled the ball. It has become shockingly clear that Britain is not as far ahead in development as we believed.

Despite recording 11 wins from 12 matches in 2025, England were second from bottom among first-tier nations in terms of points per 22 attacking players. This statistic isn’t getting any better. England played 33 per cent of the match in Ireland’s 22 but their comeback was a woeful one. They forced the pass and their instincts froze with self-doubt.

Maro Itoje put in a disappointing figure as England failed to learn from the warning signs of their clash with Scotland

Henry Pollock sums up his feelings on the Red Roses’ patchy performance on Saturday

RFU boss Princess of Wales was there to watch her side crumble under pressure

Ireland took the measure of their opponents as England made mistake after mistake

Ireland, by contrast, took 10 points from their first three visits to the 22. Tom Curry made a lateral charge to concede the penalty, while Jamison Gibson-Park reacted quickest to score with a tap-and-go. England’s senior players were as much to blame as anyone else.

There was mistake after mistake. Ollie Chessum lost a line in the tail before Ollie Lawrence was penalized for his rough tackle on Jamie Osborne. Ireland attacked with a contested strike, Stuart McCloskey put Lawrence over and Baloucoune took the lead.

Steward had his sins and Cowan-Dickie was also addicted, leaving little hope of them playing significant roles against Italy in a fortnight. A secondary playmaker (George Furbank or Marcus Smith) is likely to slot in at fullback in this one-dimensional attack.

The vast canals of England were exposed. The home side were in distraught as Ireland made nine clean breaks in just half an hour and Tommy O’Brien extended the lead to 22 points. Alex Mitchell suffered a soft tissue injury and there were ironic cheers when Ford finally kicked for a tap-in.

Jamie George played an innings game at the blindside but was denied by England’s reserve hooker. England was thoroughly affected by this collapse.

At this point Borthwick made his next move.

Steward connected but Ford remained on the field. England’s coach made some adjustments but kept the man at the center of the attack. The first half substitutions were brave but Borthwick’s did not work.

Smith set up Dingwall to score seconds after his debut but the playmaker was limited to secondary touches from the full-backs.

Britain’s plan B was never implemented. Ellis Genge missed a tackle on Caelan Doris and Pollock was sin-binned as England attempted to cover. Dan Sheehan scored from the penalty spot but England were looking down the ball.

Lawrence scored a try but England lost 3-0 in the sin bin period after Osborne was yellow carded. Itoje was sent off in the 55th minute and few eyebrows would have been raised if Borthwick had given his disgruntled captain some rest in favor of Alex Coles.

Ben Earl fumbled the ball as the home team changed over and over. Ford hesitated and crashed into the Irish defenders’ jaw, trampled and flipped over.

Crowley ensured the scoreboard turned green from the kick-off and Osborne scored for his team’s fifth. Sam Underhill’s 77th-minute try was only a consolation as Twickenham tasted defeat for the first time since 2024.

A few weeks ago Borthwick was urging England fans to flock to Paris for what everyone hoped would be a Grand Slam result. After this modest change in story, some may be checking the cancellation policies.