Crestfallen Maro Itoje's verdict as England set unwanted record in Paris

England skipper Maro Itoje admits that his side were disappointed that Thomas Ramos landed a last-gasp penalty to deny them a dramatic victory in Paris.

Itoje’s high tackle with the clock in the red cost England, as it allowed Ramos to land the long-range effort that gave France a 48-46 victory and a back-to-back Six Nations to break Ireland’s hearts, with Andy Farrell’s side having had one hand on the trophy.

Ireland finished two points behind France, while the defeat meant England ended the championship in fifth place, with only wooden spoon winners Wales below them in the table.

It was the first time that England had lost four matches in a Six Nations campaign, but the Saracens and Lions second row believes that Steve Borthwick’s side, whose next game is in South Africa this summer, are moving in the right direction.

“We’ve had a tough couple of games, and you know, I think we’re quite disappointed to lose this one. But I think we showed the spirit of this team. In sport, you don’t want to go through the experiences that we went through over the last four games.

“But I truly believe this team’s going places. I think we will learn from our experiences and be better for it.

“We knew that there were areas of the game that we needed to improve. We needed to get better with our conversion and turning our territory into points.

“So it was an area that we’ve put a lot of focus on, and it paid some dividends. I think we just need to attack the game, attack the game as we did.

“You know, Test match rugby is a tough sport, and it just shows you have to be on it and you have to be sharp straight from the off. We’ll be better, we’ll regroup, we’ll take in the lessons,” said Itoje.