PURE *That’s ‘scummy Ireland’

GREG’S A HEART BREAKER

certainly very easily have gone the other way.

Scotland broke the Azzurri’s resistance in the final 10 minutes with a try by full-back Stuart Hogg and the deciding penalty by scrumhalf Laidlaw (right).

The visitors had already scored three tries through hooker Fraser Brown, captain John Barclay and winger Sean Maitland.

But Scotland were well below par, dropping balls and conceding penalties.

Italy, who last won a Six Nations game in 2015 in Rome, against Scotland, led for about an hour of the game, steered by 24-year-old fly-half Tommaso Allan, who scored two tries and set up a third for fullback Matteo Minozzi.

It was not to be and Italian No.8 Sergio Parisse, 34, reached the milestone of having played 100 losing Tests – in an 134-Test career — as the Azzurri recorded their 17th straight Six Nations loss. EDDIE JONES watched England make it a hat-trick of Six Nations flops – then warned that some of these players might not make the World Cup cut.

Jones’s mob went down 24-15 to a rampant Ireland who won the third Grand Slam in their history — and the England boss was booed by punters at the end.

France nicking a bonus point in Cardiff condemned England to fifth spot – their worst finish since 1983.

It capped off a shocking week for Aussie Jones, who was embroiled in ‘Scumgate’ a few days ago for remarks he made about the Irish.

This was the first time England have lost three on the spin in the Six Nations since 2006 and their first defeat at Twickenham since the last World Cup.

A far cry from that triumphant run of 23 wins in 24 games which included two Six Nations titles and a clean sweep over the Wallabies down under.

But Jones reckons that run of success gave fans false hope because it came after he had used his Midas touch to pull off a quick fix, and he could wield the axe.

Jones said: “Some guys have come in and done really well and some maybe will struggle to participate in the future.

“We have to get a greater depth to our squad that can play test rugby.

“There are some guys who are starting their international careers and they need time. I have to decide whether I have got time to get them ready for the World Cup.

“We weren’t happy being the team we were, because we knew whatever we had won we weren’t good enough to get to where we wanted to get.

“When you take over, like I did England, it is quite easy to improve them quickly because you get to fix certain things that need fixing quickly.

“But internal mechanisms take time to fix and that is the slow burner.

“Unless you fix them, they catch up with you when you get to the big tournaments such as the World Cup.”

Cheltenham week and St Patrick’s Day — it was written in the stars that Ireland would win. And it never looked in doubt. But yet again England did not help themselves. They conceded 11 penalties, an improvement on the France game, but there were some particularly poor ones among that number — and some given away in good positions.

The more they got themselves on the wrong side of Australian referee Angus Gardner the more they got pinged.

And the more they complained to Gardner, the more they got pinged — and any 50-50 decisions were going to go to the men in green. Gardner is only human.

England could point to two decisions for Irish tries that went against them, and Bundee Aki escaping a card for a shoulder charge, but that would be whitewashing the ugly truth that they were outmatched for most of the game. When Ireland got a bit of luck, they made England pay.

Jones’s new-look midfield with Ben Te’o at 12 and Jonathan Joseph outside him hardly landed a punch, and England only really looked dangerous after the George Ford/Owen Farrell combo had been restored in the second half.

But it was too late by then. I r e l a n d had raced to a 21-5 lead at the interval thanks to tries from centre Garry Ringrose, No.8 CJ Stander and wing Jacob Stockdale.

On another day Ringrose’s effort, made by Johnny Sexton’s brilliant up-and-under, could have been chalked off for a knock-on by Ireland full-back Rob Kearney.

And Stockdale’s could have been ruled out for a knock-on by the wonder kid, who was scoring his seventh try of the tournament.

But England would not have deserved the rub of the green.

Daly added his second try in the 65th minute thanks to a great move involving Ford, Farrell and a reverse pass from Mike Brown.

But the clock was in the red by the time Jonny May went over. Irish eyes were already smiling.