Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy are deadlocked on two points each after two rounds while pre-tournament favourites France are currently in wooden spoon territory with no points.

However Ross believes les blues are too good to keep losing and thinks Philippe Saint-André’s men could still have a big say in where the title goes.

“I think the title is still to play for because the way France are playing at the moment there’s probably going to be a backlash from them and they’ve so many quality players that they can’t stay in that rut for long,” Ross said

“We still have to play them and England still have to play them so anything can happen.”

Reflecting on yesterday’s defeat the tighthead admitted Ireland struggled to settle into any pattern as England coped better with the wet conditions.

“It was frustrating, I don’t think we ever got into our multi-phase game. The conditions were difficult but they were the same for both sides and we just spilled the ball or knocked it on too many times to get any sort of rhythm going.

“I don’t think England are a real kick and chase team. I’ve seen them play plenty of times so I think the conditions didn’t suit either team but England probably adapted that bit better to it.

“They created pressure points and kept the score board ticking over. The first half was probably one for us to forget and that was the difference at the end of the game, those six points.”

Ross and his fellow front rowers can take some comfort from the performance of the scrum which showed an improvement from the embarrassment of Twickenham last year.

Having worked hard on the set piece during the week the Corkman was pleased to see the Irish scrum hold its own.

“Certainly after last year which was a nightmare it was a bit of an improvement.

"It’s something we all worked hard on during the week because we knew if you have a bad day at the office in the scrum especially in conditions like today it suddenly becomes a source of penalties and go-forward and points accumulation for the other team, we couldn’t afford to have that.”

Next on the fixture list is Scotland in Murrayfield on February 24 and Ross knows Scott Johnson’s side will have their tails up after a comprehensive victory over Italy on Saturday.

“We’ve a big challenge against Scotland in two weeks. They have that momentum after beating Italy and I don’t think the score line against England was an accurate reflection on where they’re at.”