England on the receiving end again

Noted British rugby writer Stephen Jones has labelled England’s upset loss to Scotland a ‘‘huge setback’’.

Scotland beat the defending Six Nations champions 25-13 in Edinburgh on Sunday to win back the Calcutta Cup.

This is a year where the rugby world awaits New Zealand taking on England in November, the world’s top two ranked teams meeting a year ahead of the World Cup.

But there wasn’t a word of mention about the All Blacks from Stephen Jones as he digested this dysfunctional performance from Eddie Jones’s team.

He opted to go down the line of this being a reality check for England though he was rich in his praise for Scotland who almost upset the All Blacks at the same venue late last year.

‘‘This is a huge setback for England, of course, although if it causes them to rethink their course to bring in some aggressive form players, then they could salvage something,’’ Jones wrote in his analysis in the Sunday Times.

‘‘Some more rational analysis of who they are and where they are going may also be beneficial.

‘‘But with the French monster slowly improving and the fierce Irish bound for Twickenham at the end of the tournament, there is absolutely no guarantee that England will revive to take the title that too many of their supporters felt was some kind of divine right.

‘‘This England team, for all the words and high expectations, barely had one department on the field which Scotland did not dismantle, barely a single platform of pressure.

‘‘But before any Red Rose inquest, it must be said that nothing in Scotland’s victory was lucky, everything was down to superior class and courage, the breathtaking boldness of their attack and the wit of their tactical planning.

‘‘And in the end, as England tried to strike back, the mental power of the men in blue proved too much.’’

Still this was a loss that has rocked the foundations of the English setup at Twickenham where all their money and planning has been ploughed into ways of narrowing the gap with the All Blacks.

‘‘Long before the end, England were ragged, they totally lost their shape in attack, and their lack of involvement at the breakdown cost them badly,’’ Stephen Jones lamented.

‘‘By the end, England icons such as Dylan Hartley and Mike Brown had been replaced, but when the favourites tried desperately to don their mantle again, they found that it had dirty great holes in it.

‘‘But in the end, there was no daylight in the wall of blue. There was nothing that England and all their resources could do about it.

‘‘But there was something that the tens of thousands in the stadium could do – go out and celebrate like crazy.

‘‘There is clear evidence that Scottish rugby is back, and could be about to tap the rest of the world on the shoulder.’’

It was a similar theme at the Sunday Telegraph where veteran rugby writer Mick Cleary was equally harsh on this latest English effort, played out in freezing conditions.

‘‘Scotland managed to send a chill deep into the marrow of English rugby with an allencompassing victory that has put England’s defence of their Six Nations title into cold storage,’’ Cleary wrote.

‘‘The ruins of England’s Grand Slam ambitions also lay scattered across the Murrayfield turf.

‘‘There will be shivers of apprehension on the World Cup front too for this showed that England are fallible, particularly at the breakdown where they were wholly eclipsed.

‘‘England’s discipline was woeful, conceding 13 penalties, turnovers, too, and having Sam Underhill sin-binned. Homeward go England ‘tae think again. It was a sobering experience.’’

Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio wasn’t totally surprised.

‘‘This has been coming,’’ he wrote in his column in the Sunday Times.

‘‘It’s not that England have played badly in the past 12 months, it’s just that the intensity levels have been inconsistent.

‘‘With the exception of defeat by Ireland last March, they have got away with it but when you allow the home side to make a start like Scotland did then you are on a hiding to nothing.

‘‘The power is there but there is too much sloppiness — percentage passes don’t go to hand or risky passes are thrown when they don’t need to be, and silly penalties are conceded.’’