Clive Woodward never thought he would see the day England were so badly outclassed on home soil after witnessing their record home loss to France.
France crossed over seven times in their astonishing 53-10 victory at Twickenham on Saturday to keep their Six Nations title defence alive.
It is the most points ever conceded by England in a home Test, overtaking the 42 points scored by South Africa in November 2008.
Woodward, who guided the Red Rose to World Cup glory in 2003, was left stunned by his former side's capitulation and is fearing the worst ahead of next week's trip to Ireland.
"England were never going to win that game; we were second best by a long, long way," he told ITV Sport. "To think we're going to play Ireland next week is a sobering thought.
"To actually see that in a Six Nations game... I never thought I'd see that scoreboard ever at Twickenham."
Fellow pundit Johnny Wilkinson described the loss as "a massive reality check" for England, who tasted defeat at home to France for the first time in 18 years.
England have now lost two of their four matches this campaign – Steve Borthwick's first since replacing Eddie Jones in December – and find themselves in fourth place.
Borthwick accepts England were too easily dismantled by France and knows there is a gulf between his side and the world's elite heading into the Rugby World Cup.
"Certainly you have to give immense credit to France and they are clearly a world-class team," he told ITV Sport. "We are really disappointed in that performance.
"There are lots of things we wanted to do but we couldn't execute. I think we lost collisions across both lines, attack and defence.
"We knew they have immense power and unfortunately we didn't deal with it. When we attacked they were able to dominate. There is plenty of work on the collision areas
"We got exposed today. I thought we would get a measure of where we are at – there is a big gap between us and the top teams in the world.
"I don't think it matters what I thought it [the gap] was before; I think we understand where we are and what we have to do."
France were 24 points to the good by half-time – another unwanted record for England in the Six Nations – with 23-point Thomas Ramos opening the scoring inside two minutes.
Thibaud Flament, Charles Ollivon and Damian Penaud all crossed over twice each in a one-sided contest, with Freddie Steward scoring England's only try.
It is the first time in the Six Nations era that three different France players have scored two tries each in a single game.
Reflecting on one of England's all-time worst displays, captain Ellis Genge admitted there can be no excuses.
"I am not going to sugar-coat it. That is one of our worst performances and we were punished numerous times," he said.
"We asked the boys to keep fighting and I think for 80 per cent of it we were fighting. The momentum was against us for too long and we didn't claw it back.
"I am not hiding away from it – we were well beaten today. [France] are brilliant. They have shown time and time again why they are the number two team in the world.
"We are way off where we want to be. If I had the answers I would be somewhere else earning millions. It's a bit of a mystery at the moment."
Former US Open champion Thiem misses out on Roland Garros wild-card invitation
Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem will have to fight for his place at the French Open after missing out on Tuesday's wild-card invitations.
Thiem will retire later this year due to a persistent wrist injury that has derailed his career but will likely need to battle through the qualifying rounds to appear at Roland Garros for a final time.
The two-time French Open semi-finalist is currently six places away from a main-draw spot for the upcoming major, with Richard Gasquet among the eight male players to secure a wild-card invitation.
Frenchman Gasquet will equal Feliciano Lopez's 21 tournaments at Roland Garros, the joint-most appearances of any player in the Open Era.
In the women's tournament, world number 99 Alize Cornet was also invited on a wild-card pick and will appear in a women's singles grand slam main draw for the 72nd time in her career.
That is the third most in the Open Era for major appearances, behind only Venus Williams (93) and Serena Williams (81).
Ten Hag confident over Fernandes stay despite reported Bayern interest in Man Utd star
Bruno Fernandes is reportedly drawing interest from Bayern Munich and Saudi Arabian clubs but Erik ten Hag remains confident the midfielder will stay at Manchester United.
The Portugal international, who joined the Red Devils from Sporting in January 2020, is said to be attracting attention from numerous clubs in the Saudi Pro League.
Bundesliga giants Bayern are also reportedly weighing up their options in attempting to sign Fernandes, though under-fire Ten Hag expects him to remain at Old Trafford.
When pressed at Tuesday's press conference on Fernandes' future, Ten Hag responded: "It is the same question as last week. So I answered.
"The same answer. Now in all the years he was, he was a tremendously important player for Manchester United and creating the most chances across the Premier League.
"So many assists, so many goals. It's clear he's a very important player for us."
Indeed, since his debut against Wolves on February 1, 2020, Fernandes leads United for chances created (644), goals (79) and assists (63) across all competitions.
In the same period, the 29-year-old also leads the way among Premier League players overall in chances created, ahead of Kevin De Bruyne (519), Trent Alexander-Arnold (424) and Pascal Gross (388).
Though Ten Hag is keen to keep Fernandes in Manchester, Raphael Varane has announced his intentions to leave the Red Devils at the end of the current season.
Casemiro is also said to be of interest in Saudi Arabia, where clubs are reportedly targeting moves for the likes of Mohamed Salah, De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku.
Swiatek soars past Keys to seal Italian Open semi-final spot
Iga Swiatek soared through to the Italian Open semi-finals following a dominant straight-sets victory over Madison Keys.
The world number one took just 76 minutes to wrap up a commanding 6-1 6-3 win - matching the scoreline which saw her overcome the American in the Madrid Open last four a fortnight ago.
Swiatek broke her opponent four times and saved all 10 break points she faced on the way to setting up a semi-final showdown with either Coco Gauff or Qinwen Zheng.
Yet to drop a set this week, the Pole remains on course to complete a hat-trick of titles in Rome and land her fourth silverware of 2024, in which she now boasts a 36-4 record.
Data debrief
Reaching her 16th WTA 1000 semi-final from 30 main draws entered, Swiatek (53.3 per cent) surpasses Serena Williams (53.1 per cent, 26 from 49) for the highest rate of last-four appearances in such tournaments since the format's introduction in 2009.
The Pole also took her tally of WTA match wins on clay to 75 from 85, with only Monica Seles, Nancy Richey (both 80), Chris Evert (81) and Margaret Court (82) reaching that figure on surface in fewer matches during the Open Era.
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