Saracens' Mako Vunipola pulled no punches when he summed up England's demoralising and inconsistent Guinness Six Nations campaign.

The Red Rose lost 32-18 to Ireland, who are coached by Owen Farrell's father and former Sarrie Andy, at Dublin's AVIVA Stadium last Saturday to finish fifth.

Captain Farrell slotted home two penalties while Elliot Daly converted Johnny May's last minute try.

Fellow Saracens colleagues brothers Mako and Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje and Bristol Bears loanee Ben Earl played their roles in the Irish capital while Max Malins withdrew from the squad 24 hours before after suffering a leg injury.

"We just weren't at the races," said loosehead prop Mako Vunipola, 30.

"Ireland were winners. They kept pressure on us and we weren't able to respond so we just have to go back and see where we can improve, not just this game but throughout the tournament.

"There's a lot a learning to take from it which is disappointing obviously. We've lost three games but it's also existing because there is so much growth in this squad.

"As a group we still firmly believe in what we're doing here as a team so it's disappointing that we're not consistent enough yet, and that was the case today."

Last fortnight Eddie Jones's troops bounced back from 40-24 trouncing Wales defeat to stun France in a 23-20 thriller at RFU headquarters.

After the opening round defeat to Scotland followed by a fairly straight forward drubbing of Italy, England's other victory pretty summed up their 2021 campaign.

"We tool some steps forward last week but we couldn't build on that which was the most disappointing thing," Vunipola continued, adding: "We're going to take a good look at ourselves and see where we can improve and hopefully come put better from this."

Sean Maitland appeared in Scotland's resounding 52-10 victory over Italy at Murrayfield. H is guaranteed to feature in Gregor Townsend's squad to face title chasing France in the final Guinness Six Nations match of 2021 this Friday at the Stade De France.