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Six Nations

Ellis Genge makes public apology to England fans after 'brutal' loss

By PA

45 days ago

Ellis Genge of England applauds the fans after the Guinness Six Nations 2026 match between England and Ireland at Allianz Stadium on February 21, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by MB Media/Getty Images)

Ellis Genge apologised to England fans for the abysmal 42-21 defeat by Ireland that has ended their Guinness Six Nations title aspirations.

Genge admits his team are unable to explain how a week after they were outfought by Scotland at Murrayfield, they repeated many of the same mistakes to allow Ireland to run riot at Allianz Stadium.

“What do you do?” Genge told BBC Sport. “Two weeks in a row conceding so many points in the first 15 minutes.

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“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.

“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 per cent wrong it’s gone. We probably believed the hype from the first week too much. We can’t let the noise in now.

“Sorry to the fans, you have been outstanding, we have let everyone down, apologies for that but I promise we will make it better. We are going to go away and work as hard as we can to go away and rectify things.”

When asked about the end of their title bid, Genge said: “I’m gutted, I wanted to win. It’s tough but that is what professional sport is and she’s a nasty mistress sometimes.”

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Comments

31 Comments

Eric Elwood 44 days ago

Scotland had lost their next match 6/7 times after beating England. We saw how they struggled a little yesterday (20-5 down at H/T, and no disrespect to Wales). A huge effort, and a lot more running than intended.

England put a lot into the fire in Murrayfield. Anyone notice Earl tie up for that last second try in Murrayfield? Literally couldn’t take any more steps after crossing the line. It was like a RWC knock out match.

There was a lot of talk of the new 6 nations format with 3 matches in a row. I think the teams with a tough 2nd match are most vulnerable.

I also thought that something else was not right. I don’t think England had a good week after Scotland. Just a sense. Maybe the loss to Scotland was very devastating and affected the following week.

Jannie Aus 44 days ago

England played with one forward short.

Pollock prefers to be in the backline.

Would love to see him against the Boks😂🇿🇦🇿🇦

sorrel 45 days ago

Very solid response from Gengey. I wouldn’t mind him having a go at captain right now. Itoje clearly isn’t in the headspace for it. No shame on him, he’s going through a lot in his life right now, but it would probably benefit everyone to take that weight off his shoulders until he’s back up to his usual heights.

cw 45 days ago

As a neutral AB supporter this is one of the best games I have seen in a while. While score onesided the intensity was immense - high impact rugby that make the Autumn games look pedestrian. Ireland looked like they were back in 2023. Yes the English played poorly in parts especially when under the pump - and the yellow cards killed them again - three tries while one down - but some of their play especially before the first yellow was impressive - eg. Heyes looked like a man posssesed. Great to see a game won with ball in hand. It all made for a great spectacle.

Eric Elwood 45 days ago

Just to point out how respectful and decent English fans have been around social media in defeat. Its appreciated by Irish and other fans.

JC 45 days ago

You do realise Eric, there is only one disrespectful English troll on this site, the rest are grand. True to form, he has gone into hiding after the result today after months of trolling every Irish article. The is the type of weasel auld English Ed the fiddler aka ‘the duck’ is. Though i must admit the silence is golden and i’m not missing the waft of duck sh1te on here. Glorious!

unknown 45 days ago

At least he had the decency to apologise for that dreadful performance, shame Borthwick and Itoje didn’t. Big changes required and I think Borthwick needs to go followed by a number of underperforming players

Bob Salad II 45 days ago

He’s lucky Baxter’s injured. get Iyoghun in so Genge can fix his turnstile defense.

Zero positives (again) from this game. All national teams experience bumps in the road, but very few fall off of cliffs in the manner England have these past two weeks. What an absolute embarrassment. RFU are lucky there’s no more home games for a while as the gate receipts might be a little unpleasant.

I honestly don’t think a good number of these players should be rewarded with a cap again, certainly not against Italy. Time for F. Smith, Ojomoh, Hill/CCS, Fisilau, Oghre, Furbank to be fast tracked with Itoje benched. What have England got to lose? You want to roll the dice again after what we’ve seen in R2 and 3?

As for Borthwick, less said about him atm. the better. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time through the week to tear him a new one.

unknown 45 days ago

Borthwick just needs to go. He should do the honourable thing and resign. He has been one of if not the worst head coach England have had

unknown 45 days ago

I think that England are at their lowest ebb since losing to Fiji at Twickenham in 2023!

Losing to Ireland (probably the #4 team in world rugby) is not in itself a disaster. However conceding 42 points at home .. failing to learn from any of last week's (many) mistakes .. and delivering a performance of such mediocrity .. that it should have been sponsored by the Labour Party .. IS a disaster!!

Freddie Stewart's kryptonite was supposed to be his skills under the high ball. Unfortunately he seems to have developed chronic vertigo!

George Ford was supposed to be England's saviour after the summer in Argentina and the win against the All Blacks. Unfortunately, he’s become a liability.

Tom Curry was anonymous.

Maro Itoje (the centurion and Lions skipper) has been anonymous.

Luke Cowan-Dickie (twice a Lions tourist) was subbed after 33 minutes.

Tommy Freeman .. has been one of England's best backs for the past 2 or 3 years. Now he’s anonymous.

There seems to be a pattern emerging here.

But good (or in the case of Itoje .. great) players don't become anonymous overnight.

There’s a systemic problem here .. and it has to come down to coaching.

So .. in summary .. the RFU needs to look long and hard at their coaching team.

unknown 45 days ago

There have been some low ebbs under Borthwick but this feels like the lowest. Unfortunately there haven’t been many upsides (yes there was the 12 win streak but that feels a distant memory). Surely the RFU need to act and remove Borthwick, Wigglesworth and El-Abd to arrest this rapid decline before the Welsh surpass us

PMcD 45 days ago

In the Autumn, ENG were averaging 190 tackles a game, with a 91% tackle completion and (that’s outstanding defence) scoring 30 odd points per game, which made them very hard to beat by shutting down the opposition and converting their chances but there has been a significant drop in numbers for both defence and attack this 6 Nations.

In the last 2 games, they have been at 130 tackles, 79% tackle completion and struggling to convert 20 points in games.

It was obvious today how George Ford runs up to the opposition, passes the ball and given no space for his centres and his attack patterns have become obvious to defend. Fin Smith passes the ball immediately and provides far more space for his centres, whilst encouraging better handling to move the ball like IRE did today.

It’s a coaching issue not making sure those first scrums, lineouts, mauls etc are not crisply executed and then it’s an attack issue the way George Ford is playing and losing all the space for the team.

I’m not sure what changed since November but it clearly has on both sides of the ball and ENG are playing like an average team as a result. In short, this feels like a coaching issue and they are losing the confidence of the players.

Timmyboy 45 days ago

Whenever we get our England players back at Saints, they always come back out of form and out of confidence. Can’t be a coincidence.

Then we have to build them up, remind them how to play and enjoy rugb again. And hen Borthwick gets his hands back on them and dulls their sparkle. It’s a waste of talent at England right now.

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