Stand-in Ireland captain James Ryan says there is no reason to panic after recent defeats by France and England.

Ryan's first outing as captain resulted in an 18-7 defeat by England last week.

"If you look at the game, we gave England most of their points - I don't think we're very far away from a couple of the world's top teams," he said.

Ireland lost 35-27 in Paris last month in their final Six Nations match, dashing their hopes of the title.

Supporters were hoping for a revival under head coach Andy Farrell after a disappointing end to the successful tenure of Joe Schmidt.

Mixed fortunes

Saturday's defeat at Twickenham came after a 32-9 win against Wales in Dublin in their tournament opener.

Ryan, who has been considered a potential long-term captain since skippering the U20s side to the 2016 World Championship final, believes Ireland have been their own worst enemy.

"I do not know if I can put a percentage on the difference between where we are and England and France are at the moment," he added.

"We are a relatively inexperienced side compared to those guys in the England side who have been together for a long time on the whole.

"I thought the lads fronted up defensively and kept working hard for each other and our physicality was impressive.

"We can take a lot from that and just be a bit smarter in our next match - make sure in our next two games we finish on a high note and take that into the Six Nations.

"We need to fix the set piece, which is so important at this level. A bit more variety in our play at times would be good and that we are calmer when we get into the 22 and see the bigger picture."