SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: England showed character in adversity in defeat

England might just have discovered themselves on Saturday at Twickenham when the team showed its real character in adversity, and if they can travel to Paris with that energy they might yet spoil France's Grand Slam party.

Down to 14 men after a minute, they reacted with their best performance of this year's Six Nations and if ever a scoreline did a side scant justice, this was it.

They hit a wall of fatigue in the last 10 minutes and Ireland are too good a side not to take advantage of that and close out the win, but there were glimpses of a brighter future for England.

The Twickenham crowd recognised that and responded to their team to create the loudest atmosphere I've heard there for many years. That connection is important as it's part of the building process.

What happened is that when a side goes down a man so early, everyone in the short-handed team automatically raises their intensity and work rate by 10-15 per cent to compensate and suddenly, because of that, England started playing at the pace and tempo I and many others have always advocated.

They became energised, precise and remorseless — that's what a bit of adversity can do to a side.

We saw it in 2019 when England went to Dublin to play Grand Slam champions Ireland as big underdogs and produced possibly their best performance under Eddie Jones and we saw it again in the 2019 world Cup semi-final against tournament favourites New Zealand.

That was the buzz I got from this match from the second to the 70th minute and it's something good and positive to work on. A great side plays with that energy and intensity for 80 minutes in every game and that's what England must do.

We saw in Cardiff on Friday night that France, good as they are, aren't yet the