Seeing the wrong selection repeated. Seeing the wrong tactical approach repeated and, essentially, seeing the same results leaves Irish rugby in a serious state. There has got to be some radical thinking and radical change to get us back into the position where we can compete. We are no longer competitive with other serious rugby nations.

England feel that they are struggling to keep in touch with Southern Hemisphere sides. We are nowhere near England. The whole thing is very worrying.

Everyone knew the match was important for both teams and it was crucial for Ireland to perform. After five minutes it was apparent that we were in for a tough time. After 25 minutes the game was over. It was just a matter of what the points differential was going to be.

The back row and the halfbacks were always going to have a crucial bearing on the game. Dawson and Wilkinson were excellent, in stark contrast to Tierney and Humphreys, who again laboured to get the ball beyond even nine or 10. Often in those positions you depend on the quality of ball you are receiving, but even with that there was hesitation in getting the ball and in making decisions.

Our back row was absolutely destroyed. Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back were excellent, while Richard Hill did an awful lot of good work. Kieron Dawson, I thought, was up with the pace for Ireland and competed with Back for a while. But the balance England have is first class whereas our back row totally lacked balance.

This was borne out when Dion O'Cuinneagain was taken off. He's either suffering from an injury or has lost form completely. He made no impact at all.

Anthony Foley was good and strong, but players have to live with the pace of international rugby and I'm not sure he was able to do that.

The whole fulcrum of the match was going to be decided by half-back and back row, and in all five positions and the two component units we were vastly outplayed.

In terms of the backline, Conor O'Shea has been displaying the type of form he's displayed over two or three seasons, which is playing good club rugby but completely unable to bring it up to another level for Ireland.

Fundamentally there has to be questions asked about the selection of the team and the ability of players to perform at a higher level. The time has come to say that there are certain players who have not proven themselves. Obviously Conor fits into that, and the fact that he was substituted raises serious questions about his future.

The try Kevin Maggs got was the one bright moment in the match for Ireland. Brian O'Driscoll showed good pace and footballing skills to set up the situation. The other player who played well, with O'Driscoll, was Dawson. He was the one with the vision to throw a long pass out to Maggs to go over for the try. That was the one time in the game that England looked stretched.

Most of the time Ireland just battered the English line without any real creation of space or moving the target away from the tackle area. We didn't shift the ball away from where England were strong and we didn't recognise that it needed to be moved. We could not learn from our mistakes.

The lack of cut from the backs, the lack of ability to win high-quality loose ball and use it well and the lack of form from key players would cause much concern about where we are. I don't know the way the coach works or what the current view of him would be. What I do know is that the build-up to the World Cup last year was poor, the World Cup itself was very poor and we are now in a position where, whatever is happening, Ireland are just not seen as competitive.

Saturday just reinforced the question marks hanging over both the coach and the management team. The coach's job is, I presume, a well-paid, professional position. He, along with the manager, is accountable at the end of the day for the affairs of the team on the pitch.

Just after the match I was thinking about whether it Ireland had been very poor or that England just had been very good when I met Dewi Morris. His view was that England were very good but Ireland were also very bad. I'd agree. Certainly the first half an hour was very poor stuff. Poor defence, poor organisation and nothing in attack.

Ireland have fallen at the first fence and are now under tremendous pressure not only to perform but to win against Scotland in a fortnight. That is the only thing that will rectify the situation. Short of that I think that in the short term there is very little upside for Irish rugby. It is a very difficult position for the team.

I would now just go for players on form. Pick them and play them, because the hangover from the World Cup is still there.

Brendan Mullin - (In an interview with Johnny Watterson)