The ‘uncomfortable’ conversations England need to have after thrashing by Ireland

George Ford took responsibility for twice missing touch as England suffered a second damaging defeat in a row SportRugbyRugby UnionThe ‘uncomfortable’ conversations England need to have after thrashing by IrelandGeorge Ford took responsibility for twice missing touch as England suffered a second damaging defeat in a rowHarry Latham-Coyle Rugby Correspondent Sunday 22 February 2026 18:00 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverSteve Borthwick 'bitterly disappointed' after defeat to Ireland in Six NationsYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. 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We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreGeorge Ford has said that England must have some “uncomfortable” conversations after their Six Nations title hopes were all but ended by a record defeat to Ireland.The visitors secured their biggest win at Twickenham in a 42-21 thrashing that raised huge questions over an England side that had started their campaign by beating Wales to extend a 12-match winning run. Two below-par showings have followed, though, with England comfortably second best against Ireland having been beaten in Scotland last week to leave head coach Steve Borthwick mulling changes in personnel and approach.Vastly experienced fly half Ford endured another difficult day, twice missing touch with punted penalties to the corner as he squandered field position in another profligate performance from the hosts. The Six Nations fallow week perhaps comes at a good time for a reeling England and Ford admits that the team must be “honest” about where they are at before preparing for meetings with Italy and France in the competition’s final fortnight. RecommendedStick or twist: What next for England after humiliating Ireland defeat?Ireland’s old guard roll back the years in record Six Nations win to leave England with huge questionsSteve Borthwick explains early substitutions in chastening England defeat to Ireland“You've got two options. You either beat around the bush a little bit and avoid things or you get to be properly honest and pick it to pieces,” Ford emphasised. “We're going to be part of some uncomfortable meetings and some uncomfortable reviews, which will be a positive in the end because we actually want to address things and get to the root of some of the problems and come up with some solutions. open image in galleryEngland were comfortably second best at Twickenham (Getty Images)“When you have a couple of results like this, you’ve got to front it up, take it head on and make sure that we actually properly get to some proper solutions where we can grow from it.”Ford admitted that his two failures to find touch were “not acceptable”, though suggested he felt the second of them had actually stayed the right side of the corner flag.The 32-year-old playmaker was one of three centurions in Steve Borthwick’s squad with captain Maro Itoje winning his 100th cap, but that experience failed to show as England failed to heed the lessons from the Scotland defeat with a disastrous start again proving costly. “We've got to get to the bottom of it,” Ford said. “It's clearly not good enough, and clearly in the first 15-20 minutes in a Test match you want to at least give yourselves a foothold in the game.open image in galleryMaro Itoje's 100th cap ended in a heavy defeat (Getty Images)“We were far too inaccurate. I think in the game we gave 24 turnovers away in a variety of ways. From some kicking stuff, some breakdown, some set-piece. I think Ireland were pretty ruthless and clinical when they had opportunities in the first 15, 20 minutes. “We didn't stem that quick enough, it got away from us a little bit when it went to 22-0. We give ourselves a mountain to climb so a couple of things there: first of all we need to be better in the first place, in terms of not giving the opposition that many turnover opportunities, and it doesn't allow us to build pressure. And secondly if we do concede, how can we stem it quicker? We can't really let it get to 17-0 or 22-0, we can't let it do that, and we've done that twice in two weeks now.”Ford could come under pressure for his place from Northampton’s Fin Smith when England face Italy in Rome on Saturday 7 March.More aboutSteve Borth