The news is a lot, lot worse.
On June 9, England head coach Eddie Jones was asked how his team would respond to losing five games in a row. Jones was not happy with the question and argued that he did not consider the non-Test match loss to the Barbarians as an actual defeat.
There are no arguments now. England have lost five on the spin and the RFU’s decision to offer him a contract until 2021 is now looking dicey.
Rassie Erasmus’ South Africa beat England 23-12 after coming back from 12-0 down. It was the second weekend in a row where England started like a train before being emphatically derailed.
World Rugby will officially confirm it on Monday but England’s losing streak will see them plummet further in the rankings. As the situation stands, the 2016 and 2017 Six Nations champions will drop from 4th to 6th in the world.
Ireland are looking well set to finish their season as second in the world, with only world champions New Zealand ahead of them.
Joe Schmidt’s side defeated Australia 26-21 in Melbourne and picked up 1.15 world rankings points in the process. The Wallabies were breathing down Ireland’s necks before the game but were definitely second best at AAMI Park and are now almost four points back.
The tally of 89.20 is Ireland’s highest ever and a slight improvement from 89.11 that they achieved after winning the 2018 Six Nations Grand Slam. Another victory in Sydney next weekend would see Schmidt’s men breach the 90-point mark and gain more ground on the All Blacks.
Steve Hansen’s side beat France 26-12 in Wellington and were aided by an early red card brandished to Les Bleus star Benjamin Fall.
Scotland (provisionally 7th) are up against Canada in the early hours of Sunday morning while Wales climbed to third after beating Argentina (10th) for the second week running.
That may see the rankings shift some more but there is no doubt about it, England are on the slide.
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