Coach left frustrated over bad day at the office

SCOTLAND head coach Bryan Easson bemoaned his side’s failure to impose themselves on the game during the defeat to England.

England dominated territory and possession as they scored eight tries in a comfortable 46-0 win at Hive Stadium.

Easson said: “It was disappointing, it was a difficult day at the office. They are the best team in the world and when you give them momentum and front-foot ball you are going to struggle.

“We didn’t get a foothold in any of our set-piece, defensively we fell off a couple early and that allowed them to get momentum. We put ourselves under pressure.

“That is not a performance that we are proud of, or that we set our standards to.”

In the face of England’s physicality, the home side were unable to get over the gainline, while their set-piece malfunctioned throughout, albeit in difficult weather conditions.

While Easson praised the Red Roses for their performance, he was frustrated as his side failed to get into the game in any meaningful way.

“England were good in everything they did,” he said. “The most frustrating thing is we didn’t fire a shot. We didn’t have an opportunity.”

Over the 80 minutes, Scotland made 181 tackles, but missed a further 40 as England broke through with an alarming regularity. Easson admitted his side struggled to cope with the Red Roses’ physicality.

“When you miss first-up tackles against a team like England, you saw the speed of ball they got, they then get momentum. It just sets you on the back foot.

“We pride ourselves on time in tackle, but it’s very difficult when big, physical, athletic rugby players are getting that time. That put us under a lot of pressure.”

The Scotland boss was also frustrated they were not able to show what they could do to the 7,774 fans in attendance, a record for a Scotland Women home international.

“One of the most disappointing things today was that we didn’t put on a performance that the crowd deserved,” Easson said. “We have been building to get that crowd and I think that the performances that we have put on previously over the last 18 months have probably gotten us to that level of support.”

Scotland made a late change to the team with experienced lock Emma Wassell dropping out for personal reasons. Easson admitted her experience was missed, particularly at the line-out where Scotland were put under huge pressure.

He said: “When you lose someone like Emma and her experience you will always miss her, she leads the line-out and changes just take time to get used to.”