Does Rome defeat mark beginning of end of Borthwick empire?

England rolled one dice repeatedly, taking to the air in the hope of winning aerial contest.

They did at times.

Cadan Murley came down with a couple early on to earn territory, but when their number wasn't come up, England wouldn't or couldn't walk away and find another gameplan.

"Questions need to be asked about England's strategy and methodology - about how they believe the game should be played at this level," said England Rugby World Cup winner Matt Dawson on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"The way England are playing, they are not going to win international matches."

They aren't winning many friends either.

Their style – high kicks and short of flair - is hard to love. Now England aren't winning with it, fans' patience is wearing thin fast.

Itoje insisted afterwards that the fault lay with him and his fellow players.

"The coaches set us up to do well, and we as players have to take responsibility. It is us - myself as captain and the guys on the field," he told BBC Sport.

Nobody else will give Borthwick and his regime a free pass though.

Whatever the result against France, this campaign, which arrived with such high hopes and has dragged through such lows, will rightly be scrutinised to find the cause of England's underachievement.

Borthwick will have to explain his own part in it. And his Rugby Football Union bosses will have to consider whether he has any further part to play.

In many ways, they will be reluctant to change the team's management.

The last Rugby World Cup cycle involved late coach churn when Eddie Jones was axed less than a year out from France 2023.

While Borthwick, as his successor, guided England to within touching distance of the final, he was hamstrung by a lack of preparation.

Given time with the team, he delivered a 12-match year-long run that only ended three weeks ago.

There are plenty of potential successors and candidates for one of the biggest jobs in the sport.

Scott Robertson, sacked as All Blacks coach in January, and Franco Smith, who has driven Glasgow to new heights, have both had talks with the RFU about different roles in the past., external

Pat Lam, who has combined steel and silk at Bristol and managed admirably with a raft of injuries this season, has made no secret of his international ambitions.

If an English coach is the preference, and it was last time, then Andy Farrell and Shaun Edwards have done highly impressive work with England's Six Nations rivals.

Phil Dowson has moulded a winning, stylish Northampton team out of many of the same players in this England squad.

All come with caveats, complications and doubts.

The trouble for the RFU is, so does the status quo.