Eddie Jones says Luke Cowan-Dickie blameless after mistake at Murrayfield

Eddie Jones refused to blame Luke Cowan-Dickie for a painful opening Six Nations defeat as England suffered a second successive loss to Scotland for the first time in 38 years. The visitors had transformed a 10-6 half-time deficit into a 17-10 lead with 15 minutes left at Murrayfield after two penalties and a try from the fly-half Marcus Smith but the momentum swung decisively in the 66th minute when Scotland stand-off Finn Russell launched a crossfield kick towards wing Darcy Graham.

The airborne Cowan-Dickie patted it forward with both hands into touch and Ben O’Keeffe, the New Zealander referee, ruled the England hooker’s act was deliberate and awarded a penalty try, with the resultant yellow card leaving the visitors a man down at a critical juncture.

“That happens in the moment,” Jones said. “He played exceptionally well for us and he is very disappointed but all the boys are supporting him. We don’t apportion any blame to Luke – the referee adjudged it was a yellow card and we have to get on with it.

“We had opportunities to kick on, but we just weren’t clinical enough. We are massively disappointed we lost and Scotland deserved to win. I thought we dominated lots of the game but didn’t get points out of the domination. Rugby is a simple game: when you dominate, you have to get the points.”

Jones also defended his decision to replace Smith with George Ford immediately after the youngster had put England seven points clear on the scoreboard. “It’s a 23-man game, mate,” he said. “We felt George could come on and do a job for us in the last 20 minutes.

“It’s a tough one for us. For a young team I thought we fought well and played well; we just didn’t get the result. Last time against South Africa [in November], we got