Former Scottish loose forward Johnnie Beattie says Eddie Jones was completely outcoached during England’s Calcutta Cup defeat by Scotland.

England began their Six Nations campaign with a 20-17 loss to Scotland in Edinburgh, where Jones’ team let a seven-point second-half lead slip.

In his regular column for RugbyPass, Beattie slammed England as “toothless, blunt and brittle” and added that Gregor Townsend had the better of England’s head coach.

“Townsend completely out-coached Jones and not for the first time.

“England looked completely blunt and brittle despite their vastly superior resources. That is why questions should and will be asked.

“Why did England keep kicking the ball away? Why was poor Luke Cowan-Dickie left defending a cross-kick, one-on-one with a winger? Why did England turn down three points and a kick to level the scores near the end? Why was Joe Marler throwing in to a line-out? Why didn’t they put eight men in to defend a scrum in their own 22 instead of packing down with seven and conceding the match-deciding penalty? Why take off Marcus Smith when the game hung in the balance?

“England committed a catalogue of schoolboy errors stemming from coaching, personnel and a chronic lack of confidence. It was astonishingly un-England-like. They loaded up the gun, pointed it at their foot, and emptied both barrels.”

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