"It's Not Acceptable" - George Ford admits to kicking errors after England's loss to Ireland

Ford's kicking came under scrutiny, after the play-maker failed to find touch from two first half penalties. The crowd jeered at the England centurion, with some ironic applause following later, when a successful kick went across the touch-line. Ford revealed how he was too 'aggressive' in pinning Ireland back, as his wayward kicks flew beyond the try-line, which allowed Ireland to clear the danger.

"There were a couple to touch. The first one I tried to be aggressive and go for it, and I got that one wrong." Ford said, following the match at Allianz Stadium.

"I actually thought the second one, I punched it into the five (metre line). Obviously they [match officials] thought it went the other side of the flag. Look, it happens. It's not good, it's not acceptable to do that, but stuff like that happens in sport, and games, and it's not for a lack of intent or endeavour."

Ford echoed the sentiments of his head coach Steve Borthwick, in how England were not necessarily the world-beating team that the fans thought they were, as they enjoyed the 12-match winning streak. Despite claiming impressive wins over the likes of France, New Zealand and Australia, Ford thought that there was always room for improvement and that this England team are not quite the finished article.

"Sometimes in sport, that’s the beauty of it, you go on a bit of a run and you have momentum, you have confidence and you find ways to win games in many different ways and then how quickly it can change. You’ve never cracked it, [never] nailed it."

"I don't think we were the best team in the world when we went 12 wins on the bounce, I don't think we're the worst team now. So, we just to be a bit more balanced about it. It's obviously not good enough, the last two results and performances, we're going to front that up.

"What we're going to do going forward isn't going to be due to a lack of endeavour to get better and fix it and hopefully propel ourselves on again."

With over 100 England caps under his belt, Ford has witnessed his fair share of highs and lows in the post match changing rooms. The fly half revealed how there was a dejected sense of disappointment across the whole squad, as England suffered their second defeat on the bounce in the 2026 Six Nations.

"Disappointed. Totally disappointing. You never want to lose for England. You never want to lose at home for England, especially in that sort of points difference on the scoreboard. That’s disappointing and we will have to front up and deal with it."

The defeat to Ireland also marred the 100th Test cap of England captain Maro Itoje. The lock had unveiled custom made boots to mark the occasion, before Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales presented Itoje with his milestone cap after the match. Ford shared how the England team were frustrated to let down the skipper, on what should have been a career highlight for the Saracen.

"When someone reaches a milestone like that it's an incredible achievement. It's massively disappointing we couldn't make it an even more special day for him. Like I said, it's something we've got to live with, move on, and front it up."

Reflecting upon the 80 minutes of on-field action, England under delivered against an Ireland team who had a serious bite in their performance. Ford expressed how Andy Farrell's side brought a 'ruthless' edge to the Allianz Stadium, as the men in green bossed the breakdown area for a litany of turnovers, to sink England to a 22-0 deficit mid-way through the first half.

"We were far too inaccurate. I think in the game we gave 24 turnovers away in a variety of ways. From some kicking stuff, some breakdown, some set-piece. Ireland were pretty ruthless and clinical when they had opportunities in the first 15, 20 minutes. We didn't stem that quick enough, it got away from us a little bit when it went to 22-0."

"They were pretty ruthless in that first 15-20 minutes, and that's twice in two weeks the scoreboard has got away from us. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb, and against good teams and good players it's difficult to get back."

This marked the second week in a row, which saw England take a slow start to proceedings. When Steve Borthwick's men traveled up to Edinburgh, they came undone in the early goings by a rampant Scotland side, who raced away for a 17-0 lead. Ford addressed how England must clear this up, and come out hot for their fourth round clash against Italy.

"We've got to get to the bottom of it. It's clearly not good enough, and clearly in the first 15-20 minutes in a Test match you want to at least give yourselves a foothold in the game. Usually the emotions settle down after that period of time, but when we have conceded it has been seven, 14, and what it was today, 17 and then 22. It's too much for us to get back.

"It's being aware and learning from it [that will see England improve], from the previous game, which obviously we didn't do against Scotland. The big thing we'll take forward this week is we want the intent, energy and endeavour to go and attack a game, at the start of a game.

"If we don't marry that up with our accuracy, then it's going to be a whole load of energy and not a lot of outcome. That's what you've got to be at this level - you've got to have both, to make sure you start the game well. Hopefully, we can put some points on the scoreboard instead of conceding like we have."

"It's something we're going to have to live with, but there's only one way to go about it now, and that's to front it up, and look to get better for Italy."