The dressing room after defeat in your opening match in the Six Nations is a hard place to be. When you lose, it sucks the momentum out of the team and the strength out of your legs.
If you can hear the celebrations coming from the opposition across the corridor, or the supporters in the stands above you, it just makes it worse. So England will be feeling low after what happened in Dublin a week ago. After the first 50 minutes they would have felt like they were in with a sniff of a big away win, leading before the Irish roared back with a point burst. England were beaten by Ireland in their opening Six Nations clash last weekend.
Ireland roared back with a point burst in Dublin after England had started the game well. But Steve Borthwick is really good as a coach in giving you a bit of time to be cheesed off.
But what Steve Borthwick is really good at as a coach is in giving you a bit of time to wallow in it, to be cheesed off. Critically, he takes the emotion out of it. He gives you a focus you might otherwise lack. I went into the England camp on Tuesday. The boys were in good spirits, flying into training. The beauty of this group is that, while they might be lacking experience, there is bags of energy and a tangible desire to learn.
That can take you a long way after a tough defeat. Maro Itoje leads the England team in a huddle back at their Pennyhill Park base this week. The England players have noticed the outside noise and there has been talk of it in camp. When I saw the England players they were desperate for a win - any way they can get there. It can be hard to ignore this sort of outside noise, but as an international player you have to learn to.
