England players dismiss talk of crisis after defeat
England’s players have dismissed talk of a crisis following Saturday’s 24-15 defeat by Ireland at Twickenham.
That defeat - England’s third consecutive loss of the Six Nations - has raised questions over the side’s credentials ahead of this year’s tour of South Africa and next summer’s World Cup.
After failing to turn up against Scotland, Eddie Jones’ men fell short in Paris before being outclassed by Ireland in their own backyard.
Saturday’s result saw Ireland crowned Grand Slam champions for the first time since 2009 but has left
alarm bells ringing across the Irish Sea.
Nonetheless, England’s players struck a defiant note in the wake of defeat, insisting the side “will stick together and move forward”.
“It hurts massively – there’s no denying that and there’s no getting away from it,” Chris Robshaw said. “But for us it’s all about what we do next. It’s about how we respond to this. We have to stick together. We’re not a million miles away. We’ve not suddenly become a bad team overnight. We’ve just slipped off a little bit and there are areas we need to improve on.
“It’s a tough one really. I don’t really know how to put my finger on it or explain it. Confidence is such a massive thing in sport. I wouldn’t say we lack confidence but we probably don’t have that swagger we had two years ago. We need to find a way to get that back.
“We need to look at ourselves individually and as a team, and pull together.”
James Haskell echoed a similar sentiment after the final whistle on Saturday. “Any goal you have in life, an objective, there will be hard times,” he said. “There will be people who come up with a plan or an idea, whether in sport or business, who say you are mad. You have to work through that. You have good days, you have bad days. Rugby is like a rollercoaster. You have those amazing moments. "At the moment we are at the bottom of the roller coaster and it is not going according to plan. You have to keep your head and understand that this period is all about learning and it is a team that can come out of a period like this, learn, identify, stick together and become stronger.”
Jonny May, when asked whether England’s confidence had been damaged after the disappointment of this year’s Six Nations campaign, replied: “I’m not too unconfident, I still believe in this group, and like I said we’re not panicking at all. It’s quite clear what we need to work on and we’ll get to work on it.”
Specifically, the wing admitted that England's poor discipline needed addressing if the side were to move forward in the coming months.
“At the moment you’d say our discipline hasn’t been good enough,” he added. “It’s just discipline – that comes from within us, it’s not a coaching thing it’s an individual thing – and maybe us looking at how we generate momentum when we’re on the back foot.”