Jamie George conceded England were “not good enough” in their Calcutta Cup defeat to Scotland but the captain remained adamant they were heading in the right direction overall under Steve Borthwick.
The Red Rose lost 30-21 at Murrayfield on Saturday, bringing to an end their unbeaten start to this year’s Guinness Six Nations campaign after narrow wins away to Italy and at home to Wales.
England had arrived in Edinburgh having won eight of their previous nine matches, with their only setback in that run being the agonising World Cup semi-final defeat by eventual winners South Africa in October.
George understood the negative reaction to losing the Calcutta Cup match for a fourth year in succession – the first time that had happened since 1896. However, the 33-year-old rejected the suggestion that talk of English progress since last summer had been overblown.
“If you look at our run of form over the last nine/10 games, we’ve won a lot of them,” George pointed out.
“If you look at the more global picture of where we are as a team and how we are progressing as a team, if you take a step back and look at it as a whole, there are a lot of positive signs.
“Do we need to get better? Absolutely. Are we doing everything we can to do that? Yes.”
George felt England gave a snapshot of their potential in the opening quarter at Murrayfield, when George Furbank’s try helped them open up a 10-0 lead and knock the Scots out of their stride.
However, he knows they fell out of the game all too easily thereafter as Duhan Van Der Merwe scored a hat-trick to turn the game heavily in the hosts’ favour before a 67th minute score from England substitute Immanuel Feyi-Waboso reduced the deficit to nine points.
“The foundations are good but as players we need to execute the gameplan better,” said George. “We knew it would be difficult coming up here, with the history that goes into the game, but we weren’t good enough.
“One thing that hopefully the fans saw in the first 20 minutes of the game is a blueprint for how we want to play as a team. Now it’s about our ability to do it for 80 minutes.
“There will be things that we look back on and go, ‘that’s what English rugby needs to be about, that’s what this team needs to be about going forward’.
“I think we saw a lot of that in the first 20 minutes but I didn’t see it in the second 20 and the contrast will be pretty clear when we look back at it.
“It’s a huge learning for us. We’re a young team excited to learn and we need to learn fast going ahead to the Ireland game.”
George courageously led England into the Murrayfield showdown just over a week after losing his mother Jane following a short battle with lung cancer.
Asked if it was important for him to get a couple of days off to take stock before returning to camp to prepare for the home match against Ireland a week on Saturday, the hooker said: “Yes, I guess so.
“We’re assembling again on Wednesday. It’s important for everyone to get some time off in these breaks. Test rugby can be pretty cruel at times and we saw that today.
“I think it’s important for everyone to spend some time with their families.”
Despite Saturday’s setback, George was already looking forward to hosting Grand Slam-chasing Ireland.
“The fact we are back at Twickenham is very exciting to me,” he said. “We’ve spoken a lot about the record we want to create at Twickenham and how hard a place it needs to be for opposition to come to.
“That’s very much going to be our focus. Ireland are a great team, we know that, but we’re going to be a very tough team to beat at Twickenham.”
Kolisi 'had to prove himself' in landmark South Africa triumph
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi said he had to prove himself after being given the chance to lead the Springboks out in their Rugby Championship win over New Zealand.
Kolisi's early try after the break sparked the hosts' revival after they went in at half-time 9-3 down before roaring to an 18-12 victory in Cape Town.
It was the fourth successive win by the Springboks over the All Blacks, as they maintained their perfect record in this year's Rugby Championship.
Kolisi described the encounter as South Africa's most important game since they won the World Cup final against the same opponents in Paris last year.
"The coach gave me the chance when I said I was okay so I couldn’t go half-hearted. Nobody is going to celebrate you if you don’t go flat out," said Kolisi.
"We didn’t start the way we wanted to and the coach was quite honest with us [at half-time]. At the start of the second half we did what we wanted.
"This game was really big for us."
The triumph marked the first time since 1949 that South Africa have won four straight Tests against New Zealand.
However, head coach Rassie Erasmus was muted despite achieving the most successful streak against South Africa's arch-rivals in the professional era.
"It was nice, but they have had big scores against us and six times in a row they have beaten us," he said.
"It's nothing to brag about because they have done worse to us. But it was special."
Carsley casts the credit to England's players after debut win
Lee Carsley insisted his England players "have to take all of the credit" after winning his debut match as England manager.
Interim boss Carsley oversaw a 2-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland in their Nations League fixture at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
It marked the first time Ireland have lost a home match against England since May 1964.
The former England Under-21s manager, however, was keen to credit his players after first-half goals from Jack Grealish and Declan Rice saw England over the line.
"The lads have to take a lot of credit, all of the credit. I think we've showed we've got some real talent and we can be really pleased with the clean sheet as well," he told ITV.
"I thought it was good in parts. You've seen some of the things we've tried to do."
Carsley, who represented Ireland as a player, was vindicated in recalling Grealish after his omission from the Euros squad in the summer as the Manchester City playmaker doubled the lead in the 26th minute.
"I thought they [Rice and Grealish] took their goals really well. Really well-worked moves and brilliant finishes. I think, moving forward, they can both add a lot more goals to their game," he said.
"Jack definitely doesn't have anything to prove to us, we can see his quality, but today will have done him the world of good, getting another goal for England and hopefully he can continue that form."
The new England manager also opted to start Anthony Gordon on the left wing after the Newcastle United winger had struggled for minutes on the pitch under Gareth Southgate at Euro 2024.
"On a really dry sticky pitch, it's not ideal for dribblers but I thought Anthony was a real threat. He's carried on his form from last season and he looks a really dangerous player," enthused Carsley of Gordon, who got all three of his shots on target and played two key passes.
The manager played his part in ending Ireland's four-game unbeaten run against the Three Lions on home soil (W1 D3), though England could have made their dominance pay more.
"I think you've got to give Ireland credit as well, they are very resilient, they closed the gaps and our space maybe became a bit wider [in the second half]," reflected Carsley.
"We found it a little bit more difficult to get through them but at 2-0 we were quite comfortable."
Complacency not an issue in England display, insists Stone
Olly Stone denied complacency played a part in England's performance on day two of their final Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval.
England were bowled out for 325 after 69 overs, as Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis helped the tourists reach 211-5 at stumps.
Stone was the pick of the hosts' bowling attack, taking the wickets of Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal while also running out Dimuth Karunaratne.
De Silva, however, was crucially dropped by debutant Josh Hull, as he ended the day on 64 runs from 106 deliveries alongside Mendis (54).
And while England handed Sri Lanka a potential route back into the final Test, Stone was confident that on another day, they could have been out of sight.
"I wouldn't say we were complacent. We've always said about taking the positive option, sometimes you can sit there and take a few blows," Stone said.
"If you put a few chances away it can come out differently. On another day it goes another way, and we get a few on the board."
As it had done on the first day, bad light was a constant threat, resulting in fast bowler Chris Woakes delivering four balls of off-spin.
England had started brightly with the ball in hand, working through Sri Lanka's top order before being stopped in their tracks by De Silva and Mendis.
But the bad light inside The Oval played its part, with the tourists able to chip away at their target after tea.
Stone acknowledged the difficulty of the conditions but had words of praise for Hull after taking his first wicket on his debut.
"It was too dark for our seamers but we tried to take the positive option. We thought we could take wickets with our spinners," Stone said.
"We feel we have the bowlers in any conditions but Sri Lanka played well.
"Hull has been brilliant. He hasn't looked nervous - he has been smiley, he has enjoyed it.
"I know he will be better for taking that wicket and hopefully he can take more in the morning.
"There is no greater job in the world. Going out there with a smile on our face, enjoying it.
"It doesn't feel like international cricket, you are nice and relaxed and out there with your mates."
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