TROOPERS Eddie & Co check out early after Calcutta Cup triumph
WE’RE BOOKING OFF! England snubbed the Balmoral Hotel to head straight home enemy lines because of the weather was the last thing he needed.
Jones doesn’t do himself any favours sometimes – nor his players to be honest – and he had spent the build-up poking his opponents with a big stick.
That can be like taunting a tiger in its cage around these parts, as England have found to their cost in the past.
They were walking into a storm, both literally and metaphorically, and the visitors hadn’t even got inside the stadium before getting a taste of the hostile reception awaiting them.
The first victim was Jones’ right-hand man Neil Craig, who was struck on the head by a plastic beer bottle thrown from a home fan on a gantry above him as he got off the team bus. Welcome to Scotland, mate.
The next victim of the local hospitality was England winger Jonny May, who found himself bludgeoned to the sodden turf straight from the kick-off following a thumping tackle from Sam Johnson.
It was Johnson who had made it clear in the build up that “no one liked England” – and here he was ramming home the point.
It set the tone for a simmering slugfest of epic proportions in squalling rain and swirling wind that only served to render England’s greater quality meaningless and enhance Scotland’s desire to stick it up Jones’ men.
It became the polar opposite to last year’s fixture at Twickenham – one of the craziest games in history – which ended in a truly remarkable 38-38 draw.
England flanker Lewis Ludlam had promised a war this time and he and his team-mates got one.
Ludlam lasted 53 minutes of the battle before being hauled off, by which time the home side had levelled matters at 3-3 when Adam Hastings’ penalty cancelled out a first-half one from Owen Farrell.
It left the game in a soggy stalemate heading into the final quarter. The only things rocking were the goalposts as the spills outnumbered the thrills.
That was until the decisive moments arrived 10 minutes from time, when Stuart Hogg’s slip almost gifted a try to Farrell.
He got away with it but when substitute Ellis Genge bulldozed over from the resulting five-metre scrum and Farrell kicked the conversion before adding a late penalty, that was that.
The visitors had won the war of attrition to keep their Six Nations hopes alive and Jones had had the last laugh.
But it was best for the Aussie to wait until reaching English airspace before breaking into a broad smile.