The Albany Gazette - Underhill tells struggling England to maintain Six Nations 'trust' as Italy await

England started the tournament with genuine hope of challenging reigning champions France for the title.

But Saturday's record 42-21 defeat at home to Ireland, which came just a week after an equally decisive hammering by Scotland in Edinburgh, effectively ended that lofty ambition.

Italy have yet to beat England but the much-improved Azzurri will fancy their chances in a fourth-round clash in Rome on March 7.

"There's probably a million things you can point to after a game -- and especially after a loss," said England flanker Underhill.

"When you're winning, everything's good. After a loss, you have a million people saying a million different things. The hard thing is to stay together and to stay focused.

"We'll review it and it's probably too early to say what will come out of that. As players our job is to continue to get better as individuals and as a collective. We have to trust each other and the coaches. That's the whole point of team sport."

Ireland were utterly dominant in all aspects at Twickenham, forcing England into a succession of errors which they exploited superbly while running in five tries.

England's 12-Test winning streak, which ended with a 31-20 loss to Scotland at Murrayfield, had led to understandable expectations of Six Nations success, with coach Steve Borthwick even eyeing a possible title-deciding finale away to France on March 14.

But England, last crowned Six Nations champions in 2020, now face the prospect of finishing in the bottom half of the table after skipper Maro Itoje's 100th cap for his country was marked by an emphatic reverse.

"We're obviously disappointed with the result," Underhill said.

"We can acknowledge that, but also acknowledge that it's a part of progress sometimes. Progress isn't linear and how we respond is important.

"This is a phenomenally competitive tournament and the game is always evolving, teams are always evolving. Any team you play is never the same again: stylistically, individually."

The Bath back-row added: "You're never as bad as people think you are and never as good as people think you are. We weren't the best team in the world four weeks ago and we're not the worst team now.

"We'll stick at it. Stay close as a group. I hope there are good things ahead for this team."

(E.Taylor--TAG)