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As they stood exhausted at performance base camp, England surveyed the scenes of Irish Grand Slam euphoria on Saturday night and wearily recognised the long, steep climb ahead of them.
A year ago, the national team had been awkward bystanders at a French clean-sweep party and here they were again, forced to watch opponents covered in ticker-tape and dancing around with the Six Nations trophy.
While the home fans were still thronging the stands, waving flags and singing along to Freed from Desire, England head coach Steve Borthwick was already plotting where his team go from here.
For the victors, this was a fourth Slam and a resounding endorsement of the way Andy Farrell is driving them to new heights. For the vanquished, there was a restoration of some honour after the record mauling at the hands of France a week earlier.
Having battled valiantly for half the match with 14 men, after Freddie Steward’s red card, England went out on their shields at least, but there is no disguising the scale of the task that awaits them.
Steve Borthwick says his side must 'learn faster than any one else' after poor Six Nations
England were beaten by 29-16 by Ireland to finish fourth in the 2023 Six Nations standings
The result saw Ireland claim the Six Nations championship and the Grand Slam championship
As the dust settles on a third unsatisfactory Six Nations of two wins and three defeats, Borthwick will demand his players go back to their clubs and commit to making up a fitness deficit.
That is stage one of an urgent mission to elevate them from lower mid-table in Europe’s annual championship to becoming competitive, dangerous outsiders at the World Cup.
England ticked the minimum-requirement box on Saturday by fighting the good fight. Their fired-up ferocity made the hosts look decidedly ordinary and nervous for long periods before pulling away in the closing stages.
But Borthwick recognises various glaring shortcomings and cannot fix them all during pre-World Cup training camps, so he needs his squad to take matters into their own hands.
‘We have to make sure we get the condition of the players right and they come into camp in a really good condition so we can push on,’ he said.
‘We don’t want to spend the World Cup camp trying to get fit. We want to use the World Cup camp to get better.
‘Once the players leave tomorrow and return to their clubs, we have no control over them. We will have conversations with the players and with their clubs about what we would like, but ultimately we don’t have any control over that.’
The scramble to transform the national team has to go hand-in-hand with the bigger picture issue of co-operation between clubs and country.
Borthwick needs the help of Premiership coaches and directors of rugby at a time when a new long-term agreement about player access is being ironed out.
‘Hopefully working together, the RFU with the PRL, we will be able to develop a system that enables the club game
