Ulster prop Court is much more comfortable on the loosehead side and that showed as the English scrum turned the screw on their Irish counterparts.

And having already earned four penalties from their dominant scrum, England were then awarded a penalty try a quarter of an hour into the second half to put the result beyond doubt.

Kidney admits that Ireland will have to find more depth going forward if they are to be competitive in the set piece.

He said: “All credit to England, they played well and deserved to win. I know we’re better than that, but we were well beaten.

“I wasn’t surprised by what happened at the scrum because Mike Ross got a crick on his neck at the first scrum and managed to play for half an hour after that.

“Tom Court came on and went valiantly, but our balance was off. That was always on the cards because we have guys who don’t have huge tight-head experience playing for Ireland at the moment. It's something we'll have to work on and bring more Irish guys through.”

Ireland skipper Rory Best added: “It's bitterly disappointing as a front row and front five. The scrum is something we pride ourselves on. The last 18 months we've talked about it and used it as a strength.

“We're happy to take the pats on the back when it goes well so equally, when it goes wrong, we must stand up and take responsibility. Unfortunately it will be three months before we get to wear an Irish jersey and it will hurt for all that time. The error count was unacceptable.”