EDDIE JONES just could not understand it.
He watched with utter bemusement as England suffered their biggest defeat to the Scots in 32 years — then accused his passionless side of suffering stage fright.
Most worrying for Jones was the manner in which his Red Rose army lost for just the second time in his 26-Test reign, failing to cope with the big-match occasion.
There was no fight and a complete unawareness of how to deal with Scotland bossing 70 per cent territory in a first-class blitzing — in which they also beasted the breakdown.
England choked at landing a Grand Slam in Dublin almost a year ago and now they have become Calcutta Cup bottle-jobs for the first time in a decade.
They were shell-shocked at half-time, going in 22-6 down thanks to a Huw Jones brace and another from Sean Maitland.
And the fightback was too late to secure a dramatic finale.
Jones, who sat next to former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford yesterday for the win over Chelsea, admitted: “The occasion was too big for us.
FARRELL FIGHT RAP Owen Farrell faces a disciplinary probe over a punch-up BEFORE England’s Calcutta Cup humiliation against Scotland
“We allowed the game to disappoint us at times and there are some good lessons for us.
“We invited Scotland to a party and they made a real party of that first half.
“We lacked intensity but just weren’t good enough in the end.
“The reality is the more games you win, the more chance there is of complacency coming in.
“We didn’t address that well enough and that’s my responsibility.
“I would have been cross if we didn’t respond but I thought we showed plenty of guts and courage in the second half. We showed character.”
Scotland, bossed by playmaker Finn Russell, were simply sensational as they drew on the 139 years of history in the game’s oldest fixture.
England were crippled by the emotion, the Murrayfield atmosphere and Scotland’s dirty tricks as they targeted Owen Farrell BEFORE the match when Ryan Wilson allegedly clashed in the tunnel with him.
Jones’ men were beaten up in every area as Farrell was the only man to score any points in a Red Rose shirt.
England coughed up 13 penalties — the second most under Jones — and had Sam Underhill yellow-carded in the second half for a no-arms tackle.
Asked how long it would take to get over it, Aussie Jones, 58, added: “I think three days would be quick. It might be a bit longer than that.
“I’ll probably watch the game back two or three times and it will be painful watching, too.
“We are not exempt from losing. We put our heart and soul into coaching.
“We lacked intensity and we’ve got to find out why. We got beaten at the breakdown and need to find out why.
“But I’m not going to go down the track of saying everything is wrong — because everything is not wrong.
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“We were beaten at the breakdown, we didn’t get defence spacing right and our intensity wasn’t good enough.”
While a third Six Nations title on the bounce would make history, England are now looking towards Scotland to do them a favour and turn over Ireland as they head to Paris to face France in 12 days’ time.
The Red Rose have changed their schedule due to the ‘Beast from the East’ bad weather rolling in.
Jones will name a 27-man squad tonight and there will be a shortened training week until Thursday morning.
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