England left looking a long way off despite finding fight and spirit in adversity

Soon after the sending off of Charlie Ewels, an image of Eddie Jones flashed on the big screens at either end of Twickenham. The England head coach was fearing the worst. His side were down to 14 players less than 90 seconds into a contest he himself had termed a semi-final, and the home fans, already displeased despite a just dismissal of a clumsy Ewels, appeared to up the volume of their booing at the sight of the home head coach.

Come full-time, victory was Ireland’s by a record margin, but Twickenham did not break again into boos. The blunt facts are that another bottom-half finish likely beckons for England, and it is Andy Farrell’s side that go on with Six Nations hopes intact and a bonus point win, but the English players afterwards suggested that this was a performance in which they felt a coming of age.

It looked like it might get ugly in an opening quarter of Murphy’s law for the home side. Not only had they lost Ewels to the earliest red card in Six Nations history, but Tom Curry had limped off, too, and Ireland had shown their potent, precise best with James Lowe’s gallop to the corner.

Yet thereafter, even at a numerical disadvantage, England were arguably on top until the final ten minutes. With an energy and cohesion that they have rarely showed when at full complement, they fought back to level proceedings, bringing the aggression promised. There is no such thing as a good defeat for a side of England’s ambition and resources, but their head coach rued only his side’s inexperience to not frustrated.

“I thought we could win it,” reflected Jones. “You know when you are playing with 14 men for that period of time and also lose two of your starting forwards that fatigue is going to be a factor, so we needed