Western Mail

From fast Eddie... Genge poor Owen is out of luck

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Ireland in round one when dropping the ball over the line under no pressure.

In their 13-6 defeat to England he committed a second high-profile mistake in as many games.

Hogg meant to let a bobbling ball roll over his try-line before grounding it, but instead conceded a five metre scrum from which England scored the winning try through prop Ellis Genge.

“It’s very hard to judge in those conditions and he’s an inch or two away from making a brilliant decision,” said Scotland coach Gregor

Townsend. Hogg said he would take the mistake “on the chin” and not “shy away” from it.

NICK TOMPKINS

IT was a chastening second cap for the Saracens centre following his tryscoring debut against Italy seven days earlier.

Ireland in Dublin is different gravy from Italy’s shocking show in Cardiff and early on his defence was about as watertight as a cheap colander.

He missed a crucial tackle on Jordan Larmour for Ireland’s first try as he paid the price for going high.

In all he missed five tackles, made three carries for one metre and conceded one turnover.

In fairness, he nailed Larmour brilliantl­y in the second half with a rib-cage tickler and kept working. But this wasn’t great.

SCOTLAND SUPPORTERS

IRELAND’S Aviva Stadium apart, few grounds in the Six Nations Championsh­ip give the visiting goal-kicker the respect of a hushed silence when lining up a shot at the sticks.

And the Scottish fans on Saturday night provided a topic of debate after

England coach Eddie Jones complained about their treatment of skipper Owen Farrell when lining up shots at the sticks.

“An aggressive crowd much manners.

“I thought you were supposed to show kickers respect. Rugby did have a culture of being respectful and having respect for the kicker,” said Jones.

“So if we don’t want to have that, if there’s a new level of respect in Scotland, we’ve got to put up with it.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, asked about England captain Farrell’s treatment by the crowd, said: “At a lot of venues around the world the crowd will make noise.

“We certainly stress that respecting the kicker is something we believe in but it’s no different I imagine than what happened at the Stade de France last week.”

There was further controvers­y when England’s assistant coach Neil Craig was hit by a plastic bottle as the team arrived. without

GREGOR TOWNSEND

NOT only was the former Glasgow Warriors coach reflecting only a second successive Six Nations match that slipped through the grasp but the Sunday morning porridge and full Scottish must have been a little too much to swallow.

Because hours after their Calcutta Cup defeat to England at Murrayfiel­d, the Scottish supremo was waking up to a bombshell newspaper interview from exiled No.10 Finn Russell about their rugby relationsh­ip - or lack of it.

Russell broke his silence in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times newspaper about the breakdown in his relationsh­ip with Townsend and revealed he won’t be returning to internatio­nal rugby until changes are made.

“Eight years I’ve had him as a coach, and I don’t really know him at all,” Russell told the newspaper.

“We’ve not got a personal relationsh­ip,” added Russell, revealing he wouldn’t be returning to the national side until changes were made.

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