England coach Steve Borthwick admitted his team were a long way behind the world's best sides after France inflicted a record 53-10 drubbing on their hosts at Twickenham in the Six Nations on Saturday.
It was England's third heaviest ever defeat and their biggest at home, giving Borthwick plenty to ponder after his fourth game in charge and with this year's World Cup looming large.
"We got exposed today," Borthwick told reporters. "I thought we would get a measure of where we are at, there is a big gap between us and the top teams in the world. I think we understand where we are and what we have to do. We are hurting." England conceded the opening try in the second minute when France carved through their defence for Thomas Ramos to cross in the corner.
England made numerous basic errors, knocking on and conceding penalties as the visitors scored two further tries to lead 27-3 at halftime. "We lost collisions across both lines, attack and defence," Borthwick said. "We knew they have immense power and unfortunately we didn't deal with it. When we attacked they were able to dominate. There is plenty of work on the collision areas."
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