With 10 minutes left to play, English fans filed out of their seats to drown their sorrows in the cold Twickenham concourse.

They would rather queue up at a breezeblock bar than watch any more of this humiliation by an Irish team who were supposed to be on the wane.

The post-match debriefs about which England players survive to face Rome had begun long before Sam Underhill’s consolatory try in the final throes.

Freddie Steward? Henry Arundell? Fraser Dingwall? George Ford? Luke Cowan-Dickie? Even the great centurion Maro Itoje could be under threat.

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

England’s 12-match winning run suddenly feels like a distant memory after they crashed to their second defeat of the championship. Their collapse has been remarkable and they are now facing the prospect of a bottom-half finish in this year’s Six Nations.

The tone was set in the very first phase. Joe McCarthy thrust his forearm into Henry Pollock at the bottom of the ruck before James Ryan pinned down the English youngster.

Pollock wriggled, Borthwick squirmed and Ireland ran riot.

Borthwick predicted a state of euphoria but this was the polar opposite to that carefree state of extreme happiness. Just ask their hooker and full-back, Cowan-Dickie and Steward, who were hooked in the first-half as Ireland charged towards a record haul.

England’s lineout malfunctioned from the start. No one jumped for Cowan-Dickie’s first throw-in and Tadhg Beirne pinched the first ball. With nine minutes on the clock, at England’s second lineout, Joe McCarthy swam through the maul to win a turnover. Jack Crowley kicked the opening points and the freebies kept coming.

Last year, England were ahead of the curve with their contestable kicking. They studied clips of NBA stars fighting for rebounds around the hoop and dominated their rivals in battle of the autumn skies.

It was a scientific approach, backed up by big data, but their rivals have caught up and overtaken them. France and Scotland winning back more contestable kicks than England in the early rounds and here Robert Baloucoune beat Arundell in the air with ease.

The warning signs were there following last week’s defeat by Scotland but England did not react. Ford missed routine kicks to touch, Pollock was tackled behind the gain line and Steward fumbled the ball. It has become jarringly evident that England are not as far ahead in their development as we were led to believe.

Despite winning 11 from 12 games in 2025, England ranked second last among tier one countries for points per attacking 22 entry. That statistic is not getting any better. England played 33 per cent of the match in Ireland’s 22 but their return was woeful. They forced passes and their instincts were frozen in self-doubt.

Ireland, in contrast, took 10 points from their first three visits to the 22. Tom Curry entered a ruck from the side to concede a penalty, with Jamison Gibson-Park reacting fastest to score from a tap and go. England’s senior players were as guilty as anyone.

There was error upon error. Ollie Chessum lost a lineout at the tail before Ollie Lawrence was penalised for a high tackle on Jamie Osborne. Ireland attacked from a contestable kick, Stuart McCloskey handed off Lawrence and Baloucoune extended the lead.

Steward was sin-binned and Cowan-Dickie was hooked, leaving little hope of them playing key roles against Italy in two weeks’ time. A secondary play-maker – George Furbank or Marcus Smith – is likely to come in at full-back to layer upon this one dimensional attack.

England’s wide channels were exposed. The hosts were run ragged as Ireland made nine clean breaks within just half an hour as Tommy O’Brien extended the lead to a staggering 22 points. Alex Mitchell suffered a soft tissue injury and there were cheers of irony when Ford finally landed a kick to touch.

Jamie George ran a strike play down the blindside but England’s replacement hooker was turned over. England were hammered at the breakdown from start to finish.

At this point, Borthwick made his next move.

Steward was hooked but Ford remained on the pitch. England’s coach made tweaks but he retained the man who is central to the attack. First-half substitutions are bold but Borthwick’s did not work.

Smith set up Dingwall to score within seconds of his introduction but the play-maker was restricted to secondary touches from full-back.

England’s plan B never kicked into action. Ellis Genge missed a tackle on Caelan Doris and Pollock was sinbinned as England scrambled to cover. Dan Sheehan scored from a tapped penalty but England were staring down the barrel.

Lawrence banked a try but England lost the sin-bin period 3-0 after Osborne was shown a yellow card. Itoje was substituted off after 55 minutes and there would be few eyebrows raised if Borthwick decided to give his out-of-sorts skipper a rest in favour of Alex Coles.

Ben Earl fumbled the ball running out of his own as the hosts were turned over time after time. Ford hesitated and ran into the jaws of Irish defenders, chewed up and turned over.

Crowley kept the scoreboard turning green from the tee and Osborne touched down for his team’s fifth. Sam Underhill’s try in the 77th minute was a mere consolation as Twickenham tasted defeat for the first time since 2024.

A few weeks ago, Borthwick was urging England’s fans to flood to Paris for what everyone hoped would be a Grand Slam decider. After this humbling twist in the narrative, some of them may be checking out their cancellation policies.