England lost the Calcutta Cup on Saturday with a 31-20 defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh in the Six Nations.
It was far from the performance head coach Steve Borthwick would have imagined, with a slow start from which they never recovered at Murrayfield.
Here are ESPN’s England player ratings.
1. Ellis Genge – 4
Caught out for a try just as England were getting back into it and struggled with Scotland’s physical defending.
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie – 5
Lineout was solid and was looked strong in parts but a couple of handling errors in contact.
3. Joe Heyes – 5
Scrum was actually OK but they failed to make it truly count. Not a bad game but Borthwick will want more from his front-row in general.
4. Maro Itoje – 5.5
Didn’t have the physical impact he would have wanted on hos return to the starting side. A few loose carries too.
5. Ollie Chessum – 6
Was strong with ball-in-hand and did well to get England some go-forward at times. Such a handful for any defence.
6. Guy Pepper – 5
Largely quiet throughout the game but a few decent tackles.
7. Sam Underhill – 4
Was taken off at half time. Pretty ineffective in the 40 minutes he had.
8. Ben Earl – 7
Probably England’s best. 23 carries and he was always hunting for opportunities. Ran hard and finished his try well.
9. Alex Mitchell – 5
A couple of good runs undone by some poor decisions. He had the line in his sights a couple of times but fumbled the ball when it counted.
10. George Ford – 5
Ford became fairly predictable. The execution for the drop-goal attempt was poor and probably not the best decision.
11. Henry Arundell – 4
A yellow card, a try and then another yellow card. Ultimately a night to forget.
12. Fraser Dingwall – 5.5
Effort was there but got caught out on defence a few times.
13. Tommy Freeman – 5
Couldn’t really get a foothold in the game and was overrun by Finn Russell and Sione Tuipulotu in the middle of the park.
14. Tom Roebuck – 5
Didn’t get much ball at all and struggled to find his way into the game.
15. Freddie Steward – 6
Ran hot-and-cold. Had a try in his sights but was forced out by the much smaller Darcy Graham.
Replacements:
16. Jamie George: 4
17. Bevan Rodd: 4
18. Trevor Davison: n/a
19. Alex Coles: 5
20. Tom Curry: 6
21. Henry Pollock: 5
22. Ben Spencer: n/a
23. Fin Smith: 4.5
