Riding the storm
England head coach angry with reception before win Beer bottle thrown, rude gestures and kicker booed England’s ‘Bomb Squad’ spring off the bench to get campaign back on track in wind-lashed Edinburgh – as Jones slams Scottish fans after bottle hits mem
Eddie Jones hit out at the behaviour of Scotland supporters after a beer bottle was thrown at one of his coaching team, obscene gestures were made at his players as they entered Murrayfield and Owen Farrell was booed during kicks at goal in his side’s 13-6 win.
Neil Craig, the Rugby Football Union head of high performance, was struck on the head by a bottle as he entered the stadium but was not thought to have been injured.
Video footage taken by camera phones also emerged showing supporters making offensive hand gestures at the England players. It is understood representatives from the Scottish Rugby Union apologised to the England squad before kick-off.
It made for an unedifying end to a week in which both England and Scotland had traded insults. Jones had described the Scots as “niggly”, Scotland centre Sam Johnson said “no one likes England”, and Lewis Ludlam said there was “hatred” between the teams.
“We weren’t expecting beer bottles to be thrown at us,” said Jones, who had been abused by two Scotland fans two years ago following this fixture.
“So, that is a pretty good trick. It is a pretty good achievement isn’t it, throwing beer bottles? You have to be pretty brave to throw a beer bottle.
“Neil has a hard head. It [an official complaint] is not going to do anything.”
As for the jeering of Farrell, who missed three out of six kicks at goal, Jones added: “It is not good behaviour, is it? Rugby did have a culture of respect for the kicker – having silence when the kicker kicked. So, if we don’t want to have that, [if ] there is a new level of respect in Scotland, we have got to put up with it.”
Gregor Townsend, the Scotland head coach, said: “At a lot of venues around the world, the crowd will make noise. Speaking on behalf of Scottish Rugby, respecting the kicker is something we believe in.”
The victory in atrocious conditions put England’s championship hopes back on track as they regained the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2017.
As Storm Ciara brought torrential rain and strong winds to Edinburgh, prop Ellis Genge – one of four members of the “Bomb Squad” to be brought on as England chased a winner – scored the only try of the match after 70 minutes. “Today was a test of leadership, how we were able to adapt to the conditions and I thought our leadership was absolutely outstanding, and started with the bloke to my left [Farrell],” head coach Jones added. “There is a lot of growth for us, I underprepared the side for the first game [defeat by France] but we’ll get stronger as the weeks go on.”
Ireland top the table after easing past Wales 24-14 in Dublin in a bonustry win, and in a fortnight they will travel to Twickenham where victory would give them the Triple Crown. Meanwhile, the Six Nations has insisted there are no plans to admit South Africa to the championship. Reports claimed talks were ongoing for a seven-team tournament after the next World Cup in 2023.
But Ben Morrell, the Six Nations chief executive, said: “It has not been discussed.”