The China Mail - England's Genge says thumping Six Nations loss to Ireland exposes 'scar tissue'

Steve Borthwick's men started the tournament with a 48-7 rout of Wales.

But hopes of a Grand Slam were dashed by last week's 31-20 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield that ended a 12-game winning streak.

And England's prospects of a first Six Nations title since 2020 effectively evaporated during another dire first-half display against Ireland that took the shine off home captain Maro Itoje earning his 100th cap.

Ireland surged into a 22-0 lead with barely half an hour played thanks to tries from man-of-the-match Jamison Gibson-Park, Robert Baloucoune and Tommy O'Brien.

Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan added a bonus-point try early in the second half before full-back Jamie Osborne also crossed England's line.

"What do you do?," Genge told the BBC after England's first loss at Twickenham since a November 2024 defeat by world champions South Africa.

"Two weeks in a row conceding so many points in the first 15 minutes. There is no mountain to climb after that and everyone has to take a look at themselves.

"No one knows what the answer is right now or we would have sorted it out."

- 'Brutal' -

Genge added: "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 five percent wrong, it's gone. We probably believed the hype from the first week too much. We can't let the noise in now."

England, with the Six Nations now heading into a fallow week, will look to return to winning aways against Italy in Rome on March 7.

Borthwick, while giving "huge credit" to Ireland, was also concerned by the manner of Saturday's defeat.

"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," the England coach told a post-match press conference.

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

Coming into this match, there had been a lot of talk about Ireland's decline since their back-to-back Six Nations victories in 2023 and 2024, before finishing third last year.

They started this edition with a humbling 36-14 loss to champions France and were criticised again after an unconvincing 20-13 win at home to Italy last week.

But they responded with a record win over England at Twickenham, surpassing a 32-15 triumph in 2022.

"It's a special day, it 100 percent is, to come here and perform like that," said Ireland coach Andy Farrell, a former England international.

He added: "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."

Ireland continue their Six Nations campaign at home to struggling Wales, edged out 26-23 by Scotland in Cardiff on Saturday, with captain Caelan Doris saying of the victory over England: "This will now be a reference point we look back on as a proper performance that has given us belief."

I.Ko--ThChM