Another week, another shoulder to the head for English rugby’s increasingly dented reputation. If a five-try defeat to a Irish side who can play substantially better was dispiriting enough, they now face the likelihood of being without Billy Vunipola for their opening Rugby World Cup fixture with Argentina, the No 8 having received an upgraded second-half red card to heap further pressure on his beleaguered coaches.
Vunipola, as with Owen Farrell a week earlier, was initially shown a yellow card but, to no one’s surprise, his high shoulder on Andrew Porter proved to be his final act of another contest that England would prefer to forget. One day they will tighten up their discipline and keep 15 players on the field for an entire 80 minutes but, as yet, there is no immediate sign of it.
