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Six Nations: England player ratings after 31-20 Scotland defeat

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 - 6

Caught out for a try just as England were getting back into it and struggled with Scotland's physical defending. Scrum was decent thanks in-part to his efforts.


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 - 6

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 - 6

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