MASSACRED!

Cotter stunned as Scotland suffer a record Calcutta Cup demolition

SCOTLAND head coach Vern Cotter struggled to find the words to express his feelings after what promised to be a thrilling final Calcutta Cup for the Kiwi turned into an embarrassing denouement, and left real worries about what kind of team might be fit to face Italy in his last match in charge.

Beaten seven tries to three in a 61-21 thrashing, Cotter left the dressing room to speak to the media.

He admitted: ‘There wasn’t too much to say there (to the players). It was really about accepting that it wasn’t a great performance from us. We always say you win together and you lose together, so we’ll take this on the chin.

‘My biggest concern of the championship was to see how many players I’ll be able to put on the field next week. In two away games, we’ve had eight concussions.’

Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Ryan Wilson were all taken off with concussion in this bruising clash, while Mark Bennett was stretchered off with a leg injury.

Players who suffer concussion require six days in recovery, so the trio will be struggling to be passed fit for selection, while Bennett appears to be facing another lay-off.

Cotter conceded his side had been left surprised by English tactics in attack. He said: ‘We got caught out a couple of times in set-phase. They scored tries and the game changed.

‘We’re disappointed we didn’t get a fourth try and frustrated we didn’t get to show what we think

we’re capable of doing for long periods. We didn’t put in the plays we needed or the defence we needed to get close to England today. They performed very well.

‘Everybody was aware it was going to be a big match. It just got away from us quickly. Then we got the injuries and finished with our first five at 15 and a halfback on the wing.

‘We lose a few of our options in and we don’t get the game to flow as we want. We are frustrated with the way the game unfolded but the next priority is the Italy match.’ For his opposite number Eddie Jones, the priority now is beating Ireland in Dublin to clinch historic back-to-back Grand Slams, but he had words of encouragement for the Scots. ‘We can go to Ireland now and win the Grand Slam,’ said, Jones. ‘No team in the history of the Six Nations has won back-toback Grand Slams — it has only been done four times in Five Nations’ history — so we’ve now got a fantastic opportunity.

‘How many times in your life do you get to be great? That’s the opportunity they’ve got, so it’s exciting. They’re in the dressing room now talking about it, they want to do it.

‘Credit to Scotland, they stuck in well. They had a lot of injuries, but they worked hard and are well-coached by Vern Cotter (left). We were good in our set-piece and our breakdown work was generally very good. We also executed some lovely plays.

‘I think the Scots played well and are a good team. At times, we were very good and we have a power advantage over them.

‘Rugby is about power, pace and skill. If you have that power advantage and use it well, then it puts you in a good position.

‘That’s one of the differential points we have with other teams. But the Six Nations has produced great rugby. It’s a good tournament and the level is improving all the time.’