Does Rome defeat mark beginning of end of Borthwick empire?

Does Rome defeat mark beginning of end of Borthwick empire? By Mike Henson BBC Sport rugby union news reporter Published 6 minutes ago 15 Comments A blip? A dip? A slip? None will do any longer. Their fall in Rome showed England are going through something far more serious and deeper seated than that. As England's players stood stark, separate and slumped - and Italy celebrated a first-ever win in the fixture - talk of a crisis, perhaps premature before, felt entirely apt. On the back of three successive defeats, England are distant underdogs for their meeting against France next weekend. If those odds play out and they lose again, they will have lost four matches in a Six Nations campaign for the first time. Waiting next on the fixture list is an away match, at altitude, against world champions South Africa. Things could well get uglier before they get better for England. If the only way is forward though, who should lead them? Captain Maro Itoje, whose appointment last year coincided with a 12-match winning run, has been at the heart of England's best days in his 101 appearances for his country. Unfortunately for him, he was also at the heart of this one. After an indifferent first half, along with the rest of his team, he made a good start to the second half, nabbing two turnovers in quick succession. That work was undone in an instant. With his side two points up, but a man down with Sam Underhill in the sin-bin, Itoje snaked an arm though a breakdown and slapped the ball out of the hands of scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi. For an intelligent man, it was a howlingly brainless offence. "He will be furious with himself for that penalty and yellow card," said England's Rugby World Cup-winning scrum-half Matt Dawson on BBC Radio 5 Live. "He won't sleep well tonight, and unfortunately, it's only going to get worse. The media will be on him, the fans will be on him and the team, because it is absolutely unacceptable." England survived their brief period down to 13 men, ...