From promise to despair: how England collapsed at Murrayfield

England led Scotland 17-10 with less than 20 minutes to go on Saturday but Eddie Jones’s side proceeded to unravel and succumbed to an opening defeat on the first Six Nations weekend for the third year in a row. Here are five key incidents from the dramatic finale at Murrayfield.

Try as he might, Marcus Smith found prising open Scotland’s defence a difficult proposition in the first half. All that possession, all that territory but Steve Tandy has built a robust defensive unit at Scotland and England, perhaps lacking a bit in cohesion – not to mention a heavyweight ball‑carrier of Manu Tuilagi’s ilk – were clunky in attack. Smith then took matters into his own hands, pinned back his ears and scored a fine try to seize the lead for England on 52 minutes. He added another penalty 10 minutes later – taking his points tally to 17 – but was then replaced with Eddie Jones turning to the experience of George Ford to see the game out. The head coach bristled at questions over the decision afterwards – “it’s a 23-man squad” – but it is hard not to perceive it as a mistake given how England unravelled thereafter. “I think when he went off it must have been premeditated because he was going really well,” his Harlequins coach, Tabai Matson, said on Sunday. “His opportunity to close out the game would have been great for him but it must have been premeditated.”

As much as the question is what was Luke Cowan-Dickie thinking, perhaps it is more relevant to ask what was England’s hooker doing wide on the left and trying to compete for Finn Russell’s crossfield kick? That it was he challenging Darcy Graham for the ball shows how ragged England were after a break from the excellent Duhan van der Merwe and two pinpoint kicks from Russell,