Is Borthwick under pressure after nightmare defeat? — and more

Before the Six Nations started, England head coach Steve Borthwick talked about the game against France in Paris on 14 March being a possible title decider.

"We want to be in a position in that game to get what we all want to achieve. We want English fans flooding across the channel to get there and watch that game," he said.

A repeat of the 2016 Grand Slam in Paris and a first title since 2020 was the goal.

Instead, two heavy back-to-back defeats have left England in fourth place in the standings and out of the title race, with just one win against Wales to show for their efforts.

England's 12-game winning streak went up in smoke with a 31-20 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield last week, before their nine-match winning home run was emphatically ended with Saturday's equally dismal 42-21 defeat by Ireland.

The manner of those defeats raises questions about Borthwick's tactics and his team's mentality.

They also leave England needing to pick up points from away games against Italy and France to even finish mid-table.

It was a nightmare performance at Allianz Stadium, with five tries conceded in one of the worst performances of Borthwick's tenure.

"Two weeks ago after 12 wins on the bounce people were saying we were the best team in the world, and now we are all sorts of things. Neither of these are true," Borthwick told BBC Sport.

"We are on a journey of development that has a lot of growth in it. That England team from today will be a lot better in two weeks' time."

'Borthwick needs to adapt his tactics'

Ireland scored 22 points inside the first 30 minutes - the fourth-most first-half points conceded by England at home.

That followed England going 17-0 down in 15 minutes against Scotland at Murrayfield.

"Fast starts are not about being physical and smashing them, that is a given, you are running out for your country," former England scrum-half Matt Dawson told BBC Rugby Union Weekly.

"It's the tactics. It's about how you are going to play, where you will play and how they will play.

"It's individual preparation and the understanding of how to play professional sport, not just rugby. Have you got that mentality to adapt from minute one?

"England, when it goes badly in the first 10 minutes, they are yet to find a methodology or a way out of it."

Former England fly-half Paul Grayson added: "From nowhere England pulled out a performance that lacked accuracy, energy and emotion.

"The Twickenham crowd were making a heck of a racket at the start but 30 minutes in there were ironic cheers for making touch with a kick."

Borthwick has been here before as England boss. In 2023 his side shipped 53 points at home to France but later that year they were minutes away from making a World Cup final.

'Another chastening campaign'

It's an astonishing turnaround in the wrong direction for England in this last fortnight.

Two weeks ago, leaving Twickenham after England put a lot of points on Wales, you thought this was a launchpad for them to kick on and maybe be in the title hunt on the final day.

But it is another chastening Six Nations campaign. England have had far too many of these recently; this is a sixth fruitless Championship in succession.

Saturday was as bad as they have been in some time, and the noise afterwards from England's fans was pretty angry about where the team has suddenly got to.

A bit of soul-searching and time to dig deep for England now before they have Italy away, which now looks a really tough one before the biggest test of all - France on the final day.

'No-one knows what the answer is right now'

After seven dynamic caps off the bench, 21-year-old back rower Henry Pollock finally gained a first Test start.

The idea was his energy would help avoid a repeat of last week when Scotland blitzed England in the opening 20 minutes.

"What do you do? Two weeks in a row conceding so many points in the first 15 minutes," prop forward Ellis Genge told BBC Sport.

"Everyone has to take a look at themselves. No-one knows what the answer is right now or we would have sorted it out.

"It opened up scar tissue from last week - we have to be better at managing that period and stop turning the ball over.

"It's brutal, professional sport because if you get 5% wrong it's gone. We probably believed the hype from the first week too much. We can't let the noise in now.

"We have let everyone down. Apologies for that but I promise we will make it better. We are going to go away and work as hard as we can to go away and rectify things."

England found themselves deep in Ireland's 22 on multiple occasions but lacked any clinical edge, making 14 handling errors in the game.

George Ford also missed touch with a penalty that could have put the hosts in a scoring position.

"As players, senior players and the leadership team we have to take responsibility for not starting the game right," said Itoje.

"It was just our inaccuracy. We turned the ball over too much, and when we did get into positions to hurt Ireland we were not accurate and then gave ourselves a mountain to climb."

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'England were utterly dreadful in defence'

Ireland took advantage of England's poor one-on-one tackling to make 12 line breaks.

Stuart McCloskey's clean break leading to Ireland's second try came after replacement Jack van Poortvliet, who had not long arrived on the field in place of the injured Alex Mitchell, overshot the read, with Ollie Lawrence then fended off.

Fraser Dingwall was beaten on the outside by Robert Baloucoune, who dummied Tommy Freeman and then escaped Lawrence, for the third score.

Ireland captain Caelan Doris then broke through Genge to sprint clear and help set up Dan Sheehan's bonus-point try early in the second half.

"In the first 30 minutes of a Test match collisions should be massive, but England were not even making contact and were getting rinsed down the middle of the field two or three times," added Grayson.

"England were utterly dreadful in defence."

Baloucoune and Sheehan's tries both resulted in yellow cards from scrambling defence by Freddie Steward and Pollock, which further added to England's problems.

England lose aerial battle

England's kick-heavy strategy was key in their 12-game winning run, but against Scotland they failed to win the aerial battle.

Freeman's switch back from outside centre to the right wing was with the view of improving in that area.

The 24-year-old had a mixed day in the air against Ireland, but still managed to compete when called upon.

Given Ireland lost James Lowe early to injury, utilising Freeman against O'Brien early on could have brought some change.

Instead, Leinster's O'Brien managed to regather a kick that eventually led to Baloucoune's try.

Ireland simply won the aerial battle, also taking advantage of the height difference between the 6ft 4in Baloucoune and Henry Arundell, who is four inches shorter.

Arundell, 23, was backed to respond from his red card against Scotland and failed to enforce himself.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso's championship-ending injury is proving a vital moment in England's campaign.

What was once their biggest strength is now becoming a weakness.

Most points conceded by England at home

• England 10-53 France, 2023
• England 6-42 South Africa, 2008
• England 21-42 Ireland, 2026
• England 37-42 Australia, 2024
• England 38-38 Scotland, 2019

Liverpool boss Taylor has previewed the upcoming Merseyside derby, describing it as "a good opportunity" for his team. The manager emphasized the significance of the local rivalry while maintaining a positive outlook on the match.

The Merseyside derby is one of the most fiercely contested fixtures in English football, with Liverpool and Everton sharing a long history of intense competition. Taylor's comments suggest confidence as his team prepares for this crucial encounter.

UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (16-12, 12-7 Southland) at McNeese Cowboys (23-5, 16-3 Southland)

Lake Charles, Louisiana; Monday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: McNeese hosts UT Rio Grande Valley after Larry Johnson scored 23 points in McNeese's 70-54 victory over the Texas A&M-CC Islanders.

The Cowboys have gone 13-0 in home games. McNeese is the best team in the Southland with 16.3 fast break points.

The Vaqueros are 12-7 in conference play. UT Rio Grande Valley averages 76.2 points and has outscored opponents by 6.6 points per game.

McNeese's average of 6.8 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.2 fewer made shots on average than the 7.0 per game UT Rio Grande Valley gives up. UT Rio Grande Valley has shot at a 47.1% clip from the field this season, 6.4 percentage points above the 40.7% shooting opponents of McNeese have averaged.

The teams square off for the second time in conference play this season. UT Rio Grande Valley won the last matchup 79-76 on Jan. 17. Marvin McGhee III scored 17 points to help lead the Vaqueros to the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Garwey Dual is averaging 8.3 points, 4.2 assists and 1.8 steals for the Cowboys. Johnson is averaging 17.3 points over the last 10 games.

Koree Cotton is scoring 13.5 points per game with 4.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists for the Vaqueros. Filip Brankovic is averaging 14.7 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cowboys: 9-1, averaging 74.7 points, 30.5 rebounds, 12.9 assists, 10.5 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 45.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 61.7 points per game.

Vaqueros: 9-1, averaging 79.0 points, 30.5 rebounds, 17.3 assists, 5.6 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.5 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.