Former Test players line up to put boot into 'entitled' and 'sloppy' England

The post-mortem began before the final whistle on Saturday. England’s heavy 42-21 defeat to Ireland has since prompted a swift and unforgiving reaction from former internationals, with senior voices questioning leadership, desire and direction under Steve Borthwick.

The performance, which unravelled alarmingly quickly, has intensified scrutiny on both the coaching ticket and the players tasked with delivering a response after defeat the previous week.

There was little appetite for mitigation from the men who once wore the Red Rose.

From concerns over in-game adaptability to pointed suggestions that places are now under threat, the criticism was direct and, at times, pretty brutal. With the Six Nations effectively gone and confidence seemingly brittle, England find themselves at a crossroads early in the championship.

Matt Dawson led the criticism with a scathing assessment of Borthwick’s side: “I don’t need to get to half-time for the coach to say ‘boys, we need to kick it long’, they have to start standing up, making big decisions.

“Who are those players who are going to stand up and think in the first 10 minutes ‘oh it is not working, what we’ve been doing all week is not working’ and change?”

“I would love to throw bouquets at this brilliant Irish attack but you must say the sloppiness in this English defence, players sitting on their heels, quality players getting fended, it is miles off in this English performance,” he said. “We are all hoping for a response [after the loss to Scotland] but I think we’ve seen the complete opposite.

“We’re not trying to be disrespectful there but if you’re getting torn apart by catch passes at international level, you’re not at the race.”

Austin Healey strongly implied there was a lack of desire, writing on X: “This might be wrong but heyho! I get the sense the desire isn’t there? Almost a sense of entitlement! The team looks like it’s going through the social media motions… I can’t see the fear anymore… the hunger. If you’re a current player good … prove me wrong/right but WIN.”

Former skipper Chris Robshaw suggested players will likely be axed after the lacklustre showing: “The really disappointing thing today is it just looked a little bit flat,” Robshaw told ITV. “Especially with Maro Itoje’s 100th game, with losing last week and there’s been so much talk around how we’ve got to start quick – this Ireland side are under pressure themselves – I didn’t quite expect that performance.

“Maro needs to look within the squad now and they need to take ownership because as much as the coach can prepare the players, they need to step up, analyse themselves and be really critical.

“Unfortunately, we may see more heads on the block on the back of that and it’s not a nice place to be when that happens.”

Writing in his Sunday Times column, former England No.8 and captain Lawrence Dallaglio had a go too: “Every single player was beaten and bettered by his opposite number. In defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend, you could – if you tried – argue that England were the victims of unfortunate errors. But against Ireland they were completely broken on both sides of the ball. They got bashed to pieces.”

Writing in the same paper, Stuart Barnes likened England’s bite to that of a small house dog.

“[Henry] Pollock didn’t even irritate Ireland,” wrote Barnes: “They were playing too fast and smart to notice his efforts on a day when England’s growl was no more than a yap of a Pekinese. This was an afternoon for Irish Wolfhounds.”

RugbyPod pundit and former England stand-off Andy Goode suggested the blame lay at the top, saying: “England mirrored Steve Borthwick, uninspiring and dull. Ford’s time is up too in an England shirt.”

The external noise is certainly growing louder. Whether it sparks a reaction or just adds to the malaise is yet to be seen.