Six Nations: England have rallied behind Luke Cowan-Dickie, says Joe Marler

Joe Marler says the England squad have rallied behind Luke Cowan-Dickie after the hooker was sent to the sin-bin and conceded a game-changing penalty try in the Six Nations defeat at Scotland.

Finn Russell then kicked a late penalty as Scotland won 20-17.

"He was heartbroken," Marler told BBC Sport.

Cowan-Dickie posted an apology to England fans on Twitter following the game at Murrayfield, and Marler responded by poking fun at his team-mate and making reference to his own mistake.

But Harlequins prop Marler, who often speaks about the importance of mental health after his own depression diagnosis, said that would have made the Exeter hooker feel better.

"He is a very emotional guy and he wears his heart on his sleeve," added Marler.

"Behind the scenes we have got behind him to say it's OK - have your five minutes of downtime.

"But he is buzzing about the place now and he's looking forward to ripping into the next game. It shows the togetherness of the group at the minute.

"The youngsters are all very close with each other and the old boys, that are still mucking about, all get on too."

'I felt like Eminem in 8 Mile'

With Cowan-Dickie in the sin-bin, and Marler on the field as a second-half replacement for Ellis Genge, line-out duties fell to the Harlequins player.

However, the 31-year-old appeared to delay his throw and was then penalised for not throwing the ball in straight. Scotland were awarded a scrum, from which they won the penalty which Russell converted as the hosts retained the Calcutta Cup.

Following the skewed attempt, Marler says he received a stern stare from his Quins and England team-mate Alex Dombrandt, who was the target for the line-out throw.

"I felt like Eminem in 8 Mile when I just choked and I threw it far too late," he added. "I'm sorry.

"The nominated player [to throw at the line-out] was the loosehead [prop] if the hooker got sin-binned.

"[Ellis] Gengey had nailed it all week and I thought I had nailed it all week. It just got to the moment that I didn't nail it and that is fully my responsibility.

"It did put us under a bit of pressure. It led to a scrum, which led to a penalty, which led to three points. So, as much as I like having a laugh about it, I take pride in my work and I'm disappointed I put us under unnecessary pressure."

England will be looking to recover from their opening-game loss with victory in their next match against Italy in Rome on Sunday, 13 February.

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