Jones jumps to Cowan-Dickie's defence

England boss Eddie Jones has stressed that blame must not be piled onto the shoulder of Luke Cowan-Dickie himself, but rather on the team as a whole. 

For the second consecutive year, England were unable to get their hands on the Calcutta Cup as Scotland put them away 20-17 at Murrayfield. 

A significant moment in the match came as England hooker Cowan-Dickie was yellow-carded by referee Ben O’Keeffe for slapping a cross kick directly into touch as the Scots threatened the England goal line. O’Keeffe awarded Scotland a penalty try for the offence which saw a marked shift in momentum in Scotland’s favour. 

Predictably, Cowan-Dickie has been hauled over the coals for the incident but Jones has been unwavering in his defence. 

“Luke is disappointed, that happens in the moment. He played exceptionally well and he is very disappointed, but all the boys are supporting him,” Jones said. 

“We have only got ourselves to blame. We are massively disappointed that we lost and Scotland deserved to win, but we dominated a lot of the game but didn’t get the points out of the domination. 

“At the end of the day rugby is a pretty simple game – if you dominate you have to get points and you have to get enough to be in front of the opposition at the end. 

“The result is the result and it is tough for us to start the tournament like that. We had a good preparation and played with a lot of drive and determination. We will go to Italy next week and be even better.”