It had just gone 1am in Paris and England were still caught up in the chaos of the Stade de France. The Saint-Denis side streets ringing the arena were a mess, a colourful cacophony of wailing sirens, honking horns and swirling impatience, with a team bus adorned with the cross of St George at the heart of the maelstrom.
The temptation would be to joke that England ended the Six Nations going nowhere, but a side in apparent retreat was given fresh impetus and direction on Saturday night. Trapped in traffic, Steve Borthwick and his squad will have had plenty of time to contemplate the campaign – they had spoken in optimistic overtones in its immediate aftermath, delighted to show what they claimed was a truer reflection of themselves at last. But based purely on the simplest of facts, this is the worst English team in recent history; never before had they ended a Six Nations with four defeats.
