Harsh reality sinks in as England coach Steve Borthwick faces a huge salvage operation 

The post-mortem was due to start as soon as England returned to their team hotel without the Calcutta Cup.

Steve Borthwick has a formidable work ethic, which is just as well. Now there is some uncomfortable evidence to go on, the new England coach will be painfully aware that there is a lot to do, in a hurry — perhaps even more than he first feared.

Asked if he would ‘park it’ for the night, after the shattering defeat by Scotland or go straight into review mode, Borthwick said: ‘You know I’ll be looking closely at it, at the earliest opportunity.’

The initial phase of positive mission statements and collective purpose has given way to the cold, hard reality of a grim predicament. This was a third straight defeat by the Scots and a fourth in the last six encounters.

It was yet another opening loss to a series or tournament, leaving England facing the spectre of another ill-fated campaign.

It is clear that England head coach Steve Borthwick is faced with a huge salvage operation

There has been a surge of goodwill towards the new regime, but now they have been pitched straight into an up-against-the-clock revival race, knowing that the course ahead is treacherous. Welcome to the hot seat, Steve.

There were some promising signs. But many of the fans who packed the stands would have hoped for an immediate bounce-back result after the autumn calamities which led to Eddie Jones’s dismissal. Instead, big Duhan van der Merwe and his fellow visitors spoiled the relaunch event in fine style.

Patience is needed. This is a major project. But equally true is the fact that, whatever the circumstances, England always expects. With so much talent available and with unsurpassed resources to call on, home defeats against any neighbours with far less player depth will jar, whether coaches have had seven years with their squad or just 11 days.

The problems faced by England were evident during their 29-23 defeat against Scotland

England will be favourites to dispatch Italy on Sunday even though the Azzurri came so close to beating France yesterday, but then it becomes trickier. Wales in Cardiff will serve as a fascinating early test of urgent salvage operations either side of the Severn Bridge, and Warren Gatland’s side will have partisan fervour in their favour.

Then England must take on the world’s top two teams; France at home, Ireland away.

No wonder Borthwick knows he can’t afford to waste a minute. A repeat of the three-defeat campaigns of the last two years would alarm the RFU and the English rugby public. Four losses from five doesn’t bear thinking about; rebuild or no rebuild.

All the talk had been about striving for clarity and going back to basics. Yet, a simplified approach requires the basics to be nailed and the hosts couldn’t achieve such precision in several areas. Borthwick said there would be mistakes on day one and there most certainly were — plenty of them. These are inevitable teething problems, but they cannot be allowed to persist for long.

In an attempt to put his team’s efforts in context, Borthwick laid bare the scale of the mess he inherited. ‘There are multiple areas that we have tried to change,’ he said. ‘We are trying to rebuild the set-piece and that takes time. I think you saw some improvement in the scrum today, which I was pleased about because it has been ranked as the worst scrum in Tier One rugby.

‘We saw improvements in the attack and speed of ball, and we tried to improve the breakdown where I think England were ranked the ninth quickest — so one of the slowest in Tier One. I think we saw improvement in that regard, too. I watched those games in the autumn. The team conceded early and didn’t always come back. This team did and came out strong in the second half.’

They did come out strong, but couldn’t capitalise because of a malfunctioning lineout, handling errors and box-kicking which was excessive and often ineffective.

Borthwick was right about the scrum and attack being better, which is credit to the work of Richard Cockerill and Nick Evans, but from the moment Owen Farrell flew out of the line to leave a hole for Huw Jones to run through, England’s defence was breached far too easily.

22-year-old Leicester lock Ollie Chessum was an assured, influential figure against Scotland

Leicester lock Ollie Chessum, 22, was an assured, influential figure despite his youth and Max Malins took his two tries well. Props Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler were outstanding and Ben Curry grew into the game after struggling with some heavy early collisions.

Alex Dombrandt was hit and miss; running clever lines but also fumbling passes and being brushed off all too easily as Van der Merwe claimed his sensational, long-range first try.

In midfield, Joe Marchant was unable to showcase his productive Harlequins alliance with Marcus Smith. England’s playmakers combined well at times and the attack had greater cohesion.

But the debate about the Smith-Farrell 10-12 axis won’t go away — and there may be a selection re-think if Henry Slade is available again or if Manu Tuilagi throws his weight around in training.

Alex Dombrandt was hit and miss against Scotland – he ran clever lines but fumbled passes

As for Scotland, they were deadly when their rare scoring chances arose — especially their giant South African Van der Merwe, who touched down twice and illuminated the occasion with his power and footwork.

Some of the handling from the visiting forwards was sublime, the back row in particular were herculean in their defensive work and captain Jamie Ritchie’s late turnover summed up their collective spirit of defiance.

Scotland no longer see beating England — even at Twickenham — as enough of an outcome in itself. That says a lot about raised expectations under Gregor Townsend and a genuine belief that they can challenge for the title. But it also says something about England’s limitations.

France and Ireland are still the benchmark. If Borthwick is going to elevate his side into that exalted category, it is bound to require pain and patience.