Dallaglio measures teams’ success by response to failure

“Inevitably there was going to be a fall-out. It would have been nice to go on and do incredibly well this season but as soon as I took over as captain, I knew it was going to be a tough ask. Here we were, unbeaten for two years and World Cup champions, ripe for the picking.

“And all credit to Ireland for exposing us in Twickenham. They knew what they had to do, worked on our vulnerability and came away with a fully deserved victory.

“Ireland have come on in leaps and bounds over the last five or six seasons. They’ve unearthed some real quality players but, more importantly, their structure lends itself easily to success at international level.