Six Nations 2018: England players are only human - Eddie Jones

England coach Eddie Jones has admitted his team "just couldn't meet the challenge" in their 25-13 Six Nations loss to Scotland at Murrayfield.

England's defeat - only their second in 26 games under Jones - leaves the defending champions five points behind Ireland in the Six Nations table.

Jones said: "We're human beings. Human beings aren't robots. We prepare to be intense, we prepare to be aggressive, but for some reason, we weren't.

"It's a great lesson."

Before Saturday's game, Scotland had not beaten England for 10 years and had not scored a try against them at Murrayfield since 2004.

But a superb performance from the hosts, featuring three first-half tries, upset the odds.

Owen Farrell crossed early in the second half, but England, undermined by basic errors and flanker Sam Underhill's yellow card, ended up without even a losing bonus point.

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"Scotland were too good and played some great rugby," Jones told BBC 5 live. "They got a jump on us in the first half and we couldn't get it back.

"They found holes in our defence and dominated the breakdown.

"We knew what we were going to get, but we just couldn't meet the challenge today."

Before the game had even started, a scuffle - seemingly involving England fly-half Owen Farrell and several Scotland players - broke out in the tunnel as the teams returned to the dressing rooms after the pre-match warm-up.

Jones said he did not see the incident but did not believe that it had any bearing on the match, saying "these things happen".

Captain Dylan Hartley was also blunt in his assessment of the game.

"Scotland dominated form the start and we were a bit passive - at the breakdown especially," he told 5 live. "We have to look at that. We were poor and gave them a lead.

"We didn't match their intensity. It's very raw at the moment and this has to be part of our journey. We have to learn from this."

Analysis

Former Scotland full-back and captain Gavin Hastings:

If I was Eddie Jones, I would be shell-shocked.

Hastings (left) won 61 caps for Scotland, beating England twice in 10 attempts

Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined a performance from a Scotland team that would totally subdue his England team.

They had only lost one game in 25 matches under Eddie Jones - they had not come up here to be humbled by a Scotland team that had not won against England in 10 years.

Jones has a lot of hard work to do over the next fortnight before England play again. The next two games - away to France and then at home to Ireland - are massive for him.

I think his World Cup dreams may have taken a severe dent today.

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