After one of the most ineffective England performances in Six Nations memory, the newspapers were understandably scathing of Brian Ashton's side for their Calcutta Cup horror show.

England went down 15-9 to a Scotland team who had never looked like winning any of their previous three championship games and who were merely required to do the basics adequately to down opponents completely bereft of any attacking know-how.

With Jonny Wilkinson having by far his worst game in an England jersey, the fly-half's dreadful kicking from hand was the most obvious fault-line in a performance that has severely stretched the loyalty of fans of the red rose.

Here's what some of the more dependable observers of the sport had to say about England's effort.

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"England's worst performance of the season by miles: sterile, plodding and, frankly, unacceptable. All the ground gained in Paris was conceded at a sodden but ecstatic Murrayfield and England now need to take a long, hard look at themselves. Whatever happens against Ireland in a week's time, this has been another undistinguished championship from them."

(Paul Ackford: The Sunday Telegraph)

"England did nothing, and even that they did badly. This was a mind-numbing effort of jaw-dropping proportions."

(Stuart Barnes: The Sunday Times)

"England were unable to create anything other than another fine mess for the second time in a month - from start to finish in this case."

(Peter Jackson: The Daily Mail)

"Once again they (England) were plodding, stuttering, feckless, wreckless and utterly devoid of wit or pace. So poor was their execution, so laboured their build-up and so ill-directed their kicking that you had to reach for the record books to remind you that, yes, they had won in Paris a fortnight ago."

(Mick Cleary: The Daily Telegraph)

"After the World Cup, England promised that they would move forward into a new era, but they have made no progress at all. They were rudderless at Murrayfield and the coaches jobs must now be on the line."

(Matt Dawson: The Daily Mail)

"For England there can be no redeeming features to the surrender once again of the Calcutta Cup. This was practically back to the dark days of September last year and the 36-0 scoreline that needs no further embellishment. None of England's big personalities could secure any purchase on the game."

(Michael Aylwin - The Observer)

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport