Brendan Fanning, writing for the Irish Independent, believes it is crisis time for the Irish following their fourth loss in four.
"If you read somewhere in the aftermath of this, Ireland's sixth defeat in the last eight Tests, that England wanted it more than we did, then you are reading the comments of someone making an excuse for a team in desperate trouble. And they are in desperate trouble.
Ireland came to Lansdowne Road yesterday not just with those mounting losses in the rearview mirror, but around the corner was the marquee, the big top where all the best performers will be on show in a couple of weeks. And they needed to smarten up their act for that.
Immediately ahead of them was England. Beat them for the second time this year, and there was a decent chance of a morale boost that would lighten the load that's been saddled on us this month. It just got heavier, because that win in March has been confirmed now as paper over a crack."
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