That was until a last-gasp try from Ireland wing Rory Scholes and a decisive conversion by centre Tom Daly – who had early been sent to the sin-bin – earned the hosts a 16-15 victory.

England’s points came from the boot of fly-half Henry Slade, who kicked five penalties, but the defeat throws the competition wide open and Clifford has urged his troops to regroup ahead of the clash against France on February 23.

“Focus now switches to France and we’ll be looking to right the wrongs from this game,” said Clifford.

“It was an extremely tough game. We knew it would be when we went down to 14 men but I thought that we managed them well and played the ball into the right areas.

“There are a lot of tired bodies in the changing room – we gave it everything but it wasn’t quite enough, fair play to Ireland.”