A lacklustre Ireland showing against Wales at the Aviva last weekend was followed by another in a 21-13 defeat to England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Shane Horgan called Ireland's first half "Probably the worst 40 minutes of the Joe Schmidt era."
Horgan went on to detail why he thought the performance was so "concerning".
Extremely passive in the line speed. It's allowing mismatches for England backs against the Ireland forwards who are reaching with their arms. No aggression in the tackle. No desperation in the tackle. Very, very concerning for Ireland especially at collision time.
In these games when you're no showing your whole hand, you have to win the collisions. Ireland are going to have to change their tactics, they're going to have to wider and run with more aggression and make some metres after contact. Both in attack and defence, things are very concerning.
The only positive from an Ireland perspective is that we're still in the game. We should be 25 plus points down.
Horgan did think that Ireland came into the game more in the second half but was still worried regarding Ireland's defensive pattern.
