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If there was a nagging feeling that England’s previous two wins over Italy and Wales had papered over some cracks in this rebuild under Steve Borthwick, then the most humiliating day in Twickenham history ripped them open and exposed the embarrassing core underneath, writes Luke Baker from Twickenham.

Never before, in 152 years of playing international rugby, had an England team suffered a home defeat this heavy. France obliterated their hosts 53-10 – surpassing the 42-6 loss to South Africa in 2008 – to give Borthwick’s men a humbling reminder of exactly where they stand in the pecking order just six months out from a World Cup.

As a reminder, France aren’t even the best team in this Six Nations. That distinction belongs to Ireland and, as luck would have it, England head to Dublin next week to round off their campaign. Get your calculators at the ready – based on this performance, that 76-0 defeat to Australia on the ‘tour from hell’ in 1998 might be under threat.

England were shambolic, as their opponents dominated every facet of the game and scored seemingly at will. Any credit Borthwick had built up as an ex-England captain, with an impressive coaching CV early in his career and as the ideal, straightforward man to follow the drama of the unpopular Eddie Jones era has likely been extinguished. He will need to find answers, and fast, because another display like this and the knives will soon be out.

Report from Luke Baker at Twickenham:

Luke Baker11 March 2023 19:24

“Whilst we had plans in place to try and play in a certain way and mitigate the power advantage they had, we didn’t execute well enough and they stopped us doing what we wanted to do.

“[The Marcus Smith selection] wasn’t the main bearing of the game. The main bearing on the game was the contact area. France were able to dominate the contact area and offload. We weren’t able to stop it.

“We’ve got different threats next week but we need to make sure we don’t allow the opposition to develop momentum.”

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Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 19:26

“I think that we are incredibly disappointed with the performance. Immense credit to the French team - their power, pace and class showed. It shows where the gap is.

“I said before the game that it was a formidable challenge. They played well, we played poorly - we have to learn from it and be better. It shows just how much work we have to do here.

“Ultimately, when you play a game and you lose the collisions as badly as we did in defence, and you lose it in attack, those turnovers at the breakdown, it is hard to get a foothold in the game.”

Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 19:23

“We were well beaten by 43 points; when you play like that against a team so well coached and with ability like that, that’s going to happen. We were 20 per cent not right and that’s all it takes, too many mistakes and I’m not going to hide away from it, we were well beaten today.

“France are brilliant, there’s a reason they are number two in the world. We need to be a lot better in the contact area, and as forwards we have to own that.”

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Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 19:04

This will be a big test of the character Steve Borthwick has managed to build in his squad. For Ellis Genge, that was a tough first afternoon as skipper - though Owen Farrell’s conduct appeared to rile the referee after his introduction. You’d say Borthwick might be inclined to go back to his appointed captain in Dublin, but almost anything is surely now on the table.

Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 18:47

Of course, the answer to the question of where England go after this is to Dublin for a meeting with Ireland, who might just be chasing a grand slam.

Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 18:46

Where do England go after that? There was so much hope in the week that Marcus Smith might unlock another dimension of an attack steadily building during this tournament, but the fly half barely had a chance with the home pack out-muscled and out-classed.

Smith was good in (very infrequent) snatches, and Freddie Steward was the clear English standout - beyond that, it is mighty hard to take any positives from the hosts’ performance.

Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 18:43

The pockets of French fans that still populate the Twickenham stands launch into proud renditions of “Allez Les Bleus” as their side begin a lap of honour. An extraordinary performance.

Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 18:38

Boos at the full time whistle of an England home fixture for the second time in a matter of months. A chastening afternoon for Steve Borthwick’s side, blown away by a record margin by a simply irresistable French performance. Antoine Dupont, Gael Fickou, Thomas Ramos and Gregory Alldritt were all outstanding for the visitors, to name just four from a complete dismantling of an inferior side.

So much for the Twickenham hoodoo.

Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 18:36

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Harry Latham-Coyle11 March 2023 18:31