A new captain and a new era - but another painful defeat for England.
By the full-time whistle, Steve Borthwick’s men were absolutely out on their feet here, and that was no surprise.
After a heroic first half, which they had finished leading 10-5, they were blown away by Ireland after the break.
A ruthless run of 22 unanswered points put paid to England’s hopes of leaving Dublin with a win to start their Six Nations campaign.
Late tries from Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman at least meant they left with a losing bonus point, but in truth Ireland were worthy winners.
It is now just two wins in their last nine games for England and up next is the daunting proposition of France coming to town.
Borthwick’s side showed heart in Dublin, led well by new captain Maro Itoje, and they finished the game with 150 tackles.
Ultimately, however, it was not enough and England must lick their wounds quickly ahead of next week’s showdown at Twickenham.
It had all started so well for them, too. Freddie Steward won the contest in the air from the kick-off and Marcus Smith then opened Ireland up with a lovely break.
Just as he was in the autumn, Smith was at the heart of England’s best attacking play and they were ahead inside 10 minutes.
A break from Ollie Lawrence gave England good position and from there they went wide, with Henry Slade’s deft kick allowing Cadan Murley to go over in the corner.
It was a dream start to the Harlequins wing’s debut and a dream start for England, too.
Ireland, unsurprisingly, responded and they showed their intent by shunning the posts despite winning three penalties in kickable positions.
The gamble looked like it had paid off when Ronan Kelleher scored, but the TMO spotted how Itoje had been held in the ruck by Tadhg Beirne and unable to get across to stop him.
The penalties kept coming for Ireland, though, and Smith was sent to the sin bin. England, without their conductor, held firm thanks to some dogged defending.
Twins Ben and Tom Curry showed why Borthwick had picked them as the two flankers, while Itoje led by example as captain.
Ireland were wasteful, too. They had 15 handling errors in the first half alone and lacked the cutting edge that has led to them chasing an unprecedented third Six Nations crown in a row.
When they did finally get on the board, it was down to poor defending. James Lowe was able to hand off England scrum-half Alex Mitchell, who went too high, and put in Jamison Gibson-Park to score.
Sam Prendergast missed the conversion, however, and Smith slotted a penalty just before the break to put England 10-5 up.
Ireland came out firing for the second half and they were helped by Murley, who was shaky under the high ball.
England were penned in and the pressure eventually told, with Bundee Aki going over in the corner after holding off three defenders.
Prendergast, who had missed both his conversions, made amends by slotting a long-range penalty to put Ireland ahead - and from there, they kicked on.
Lowe was, again, at the heart of it. He spotted a gap by a ruck and burst through to set up Beirne.
Six minutes later, the wing was at it again as he beat his man to assist Dan Sheehan for the bonus-point try.
By that stage, England were dead on their feet after a huge defensive effort. But from 27-10 down with eight minutes to go, they managed to rally.
Tom Curry, who was superb all game, scored and then, right at the death, Freeman got in on the act.
It secured a losing bonus point for England, but at half-time they would have been dreaming of so much more.
