Shameful abuse of Jones

The supposed Scotland fans who verbally abused and harassed England rugby coach Eddie Jones have brought shame on the country.

Jones had agreed to pose with them for a photograph after arriving in Manchester by train and they rewarded his hospitable manner in a despicable way, swearing at and manhandling him to the extent that he has decided he will no longer travel on public transport.

The Australian is an entertaining, forthright and sometimes controversial character, who can usually be relied upon for a bit of pre-match banter. But in the immediate aftermath of the game at Murrayfield, when England’s defeat would still have been sore, he was most gracious. The booing he received as he said Scotland “were too good for us” was bad enough. Whether the people who harassed Jones were rugby fans is hard to tell, but the game needs to show its strong disapproval of their actions.

Rugby fans have never been segregated because meeting people from other countries was seen more as a chance to make new friends than enemies. We must make sure that this attitude prevails.