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Steve Borthwick is talking to the BBC
“Credit to Scotland for a strong performance. They are settled team and we are a team trying to develop, but we had too many handling errors, and you can’t win games at this level with that. The reason these happen is players trying to build cohesion in new partnership, if you look at Scotland their halfbacks have played together twelve times. The first 20 minutes today was good, but then from second quarter the errors crept in.
Today wasn’t good enough, but we’ve had 8 wins out of last 9 and we have two week build up to Ireland we’ll make sure we’re better there.”
Legendary Scotland and Lions Team doctor is on duty for his final match at Murrayfield and the team have put him front and centre with the Calcutta Cup on the lap of honour. A lovely moment.
Finn Russell and Rory Darge climb the stairs to receive and hoist the Calcutta Cup aloft before rejoining their team.
It was a strange game at half time, but it became clearer the more time went on with the score probably fair as the second half in particular had Scotland on top everywhere.
England should persevere with this selection, but the breakdown is still an issue, and the handling and timing is still off. They will get better, but I don’t agree with the tone of much coverage that them getting better automatically means they will start to be fully in the mix for the tournament.
FULL TIME! Scotland 39 - 21 England
Scotland win the Calcutta Cup and register England’s first defeat in this year’s Six Nations.
79 mins. Ewan Ashman holds up a tackle to win a turnover as the game bleeds away from England and towards the fourth consecutive Calcutta Cup win for Scotland.
YELLOW CARD! Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland)
77 mins. Whether there was time or not becomes a moot point as another England handling error surrenders possession. Scotland get a monster maul rolling 20 metres upfield before they also chuck the ball forward.
As the visitors try to run it back van der Merwe tip tackles Furbank. He’ll sit the rest of the game out.
75 mins. The game is currently being played in the middle third with neither side doing much before George Horne is offside in front of a Russell kick. England will have the ball in the Scotland half, but surely there’s no time to affect the result now?
Redpath is back on for Healy.
72 mins. Cam Redpath has had to go off for a blood bin (I think), which means Ben Healy is on at 10 and Russell is pushed to inside centre.
71 mins. Some confusion in midfield from Scotland has them penalised for crossing. This gives England a lineout in the Scottish half that has the ball won and fired into midfield but the carry into Dempsey results in the backrow holding the man and ball up to win a scrum for Scotland.
TRY! Scotland 30 - 21 England (Immanuel Feyi-Waboso)
66 mins. Scotland cock up the restart to allow England back on the ball, and simple as you like Feyi-Waboso – just on the field – calls for the ball short from the ruck and is past Redpath and over to score his first international try.
Fin Smith misses the conversion
PENALTY! Scotland 30 - 16 England (Finn Russell)
65 mins. Ben Earl doesn’t release the ball just inside his own half and Russell, who is modulated his approach this evening, points to the posts and booms it over,
61 mins. Furbank has a penetrating run on the kick return, he ghosts into a gap and attempts to find a team-mate with a one handed offload that goes behind his support but avoids going into touch.
England need to score twice and a lot of their attempts to reduce that gap end up in some version of the above
PENALTY! Scotland 27 - 16 England (Finn Russell)
57 mins. A big charge from Dempsey puts Scotland on the front foot and Ben Earl is offside in trying to recover position. Russell sensibly adds to his team’s total from the tee.
55 mins. A front throw is taken by Itoje on halfway, which gets a maul in motion from England. The ball is released to Ford for Lawrence to have a run, but again the handling is poor and the breakdown a little untidy allowing Christie to nick the ball.
52 mins. A very good scrum platform on the left in the England 22 for Scotland is won and moved into midfield. Van der Merwe is again off his wing, but he’s scragged this time and there’s a fumble on the next phase to give the visitors a scrum at which they win a penalty.
PENALTY! Scotland 24 - 16 England (George Ford)
49 mins. There’s a visit to the Scots 22 by England, with the home side drfiting offside. There’s some delay while the TMO has a look at Genge doing a no arms clearout, which he absolutely did but it was onto the back of his own player so cannot be foul play.
Ford tees up the original penalty and adds three points.
TRY! Scotland 24 - 13 England (Duhan van der Merwe)
45 mins. What a bloody try this is to bring up a hat-trick from van der Merwe.
Russell bounces a kick off an England player in the Scotland half which Cam Redpath grabs and spins 180 to run 50 metres back up the field, stepping Freeman who does just enough to stop him. However, the time from that step from Redpath allows the blue support to catch up and recycle the ball to Russell, who looks up and caresses a gorgeous kick-pass to that man again to claim it on the full and gallop in on the left wing.
Russell then nonchalantly smashes the two points from the touchline.
44 mins. The Scottish attack is busy but is a little fraught, with the forwards overworking too many carries after a good maul sets up a position in the 22. The last carry allows Underhill to clamp on the ball and win a relieving penalty.
42 mins. Russell creams a kick deep that looks like it may continue forward and bounce dead, but takes a right angle bounce into touch close to the England line. George is tidy with the long lineout throw, but the clearance will have the Scots coming back hard.
40 mins. A potentially big early sub for Scotland: a limping Tuipulotu is replaced by Cam Redpath.
SECOND HALF!
Finn Russell, double tramlines cut into his temples, hammers the ball long and deep to restart
Alasdair Vickers emails.
“I’m sitting here screaming « what are you ***** all doing! » as Scotland overplay in their own half. I was wondering if you think Scotland have been upset by all the criticism about stopping playing in the second half against France? The kicking game can be boring but it’s why we dominated France for most of the game and at the moment we’re just handing the ball back to England in our own half.”
Of course they will have been working on how to prevent that second half vs France from happening again, but surely this can’t have been the plan the brains trust came up with.
A very strange half.
Both sides largely incapable of holding onto the ball, yet all the tries had great handling. England looking more composed in possession with some clear and promising patterns, but appear unlikely to score beyond the opening touchdown. Scotland all bits and pieces with no plan, yet two wonder tries suggests it may not matter.
I’m stumped as to how this will all end up.
HALF TIME! Scotland 17 - 13 England
40 mins. More England possession in the opposition half as they looks to score before half time is brought to a halt with another handling error.
38 mins. A breathless few minutes of all in play comes to a close as Russell calls a mark from Ford punt. He punts the ball into touch near halfway.
DROP GOAL! Scotland 17 - 13 England (George Ford)
36 mins. England are on the ball but maladroit in attack near the Scotland 22. Ford, a man who tolerates no more than 7% nonsense on a rugby pitch, decides these phases are reaching that threshold so asks for the ball and slots a beauty from 35 metres.
PENALTY! Scotland 17 - 10 England (Finn Russell)
34 mins. All the early promise for England is dissipating as Scotland find themselves on the 22 once more with Roots caught offside. It’s very kickable and Russell sensibly points at the posts and punts it through.
TRY! Scotland 14 - 10 England (Duhan van der Merwe)
29 mins. The ball bounces off Furbank’s hands in the Scotland half and falls to Jones, he pops to van der Merwe who steps around Roots then gasses from 50 metres, inches from the left touchline to run in. A spectacular finish to put his side in front!
Russell adds two.
28 mins. The latest attack from England is up to 6 phases before Daly tickles a kick into the corner, but he can only watch if run over the line despite his best efforts to win it.
24 mins. England have a maul from a lineout ten metres from the Scotland line that see Ben Earl break off and drive forward before he’s enveloped and dragged into touch on the 5m line.
Scotland clear from the tidy lineout.
TRY! Scotland 7 – 10 (Duhan van der Merwe)
19 mins. Lovely try this. Tuipulotu takes it to the line and pops to Jones on a fabulous short angle that puts him behind the blitz defence and running 30 meteres. He’s hauled down by Furbank but manages to offload from the ground to van der Merwe on a great support line from his wing to straighten and drive over on the right.
Russell drills the conversion over.
18 mins. Duhan Van Der Merwe is off his wing on a bustling run into Ford, who craftily gets an arm into the ball to force it out of the big winger’s grasp. England are back on the ball before Lawrence takes a turn to drop the ball.
A similar pattern in repeated on the next phases for each team. Lots of energy, limited quality since the try.
PENALTY! Scotland 0 - 10 England (George Ford)
14 mins. The kickin game from England is good giving Kinghorn all manner of bother when claiming the ball – he’s already fumbled two. The latest is grabbed by Itoje to put the visitors back on the attack and Scotland concede a penalty while scrambling.
Ford thumps it over.
11 mins. Scotland have a chance to play themselves back into this game with some possession on halfway, but they are rushed and ragged causing the ball to fly behind the line. England swarm all over it, but there’s a knock on.
Furbank is already moving in to play first receiver, which has revolutionised the England attack and shape so far.
8 mins. Millar-Mills’s first job is to hold up a scrum, which he fails to do and gives away a penalty. On the replay it looks like Genge is not driving straight, but the call is against Scotland.
6 mins. Zander Fagerson is off for an HIA, replaced by Eliott Millar-Mills.
TRY! Scotland 0 - 7 England (George Furbank)
5 mins. The first scrum of the match earns a free kick for England for an early Scots engagement. The visitors take another scrum and the possession is driven up on first phase by Earl, and he pops to Care to find Daly, then Furbank joining the line to score. That was a delightful first phase move, wonderfully executed and already a demonstration of why Furbank is in the team.
Ford converts.
3 mins. Some possession for England from the resulting lineout has Chessum driving just into the Scottish 22, but the plan to move the ball left is quashed when a poor pass is knocked on in midfield.
1 min. Blair Kinghorn strides forward to claim the short own of offloads immediately to Tuipulotu to have a run. The ball is moved left quickly, but the last pass is wild and into touch.
Early signs that Scotland won’t be dying with the music in them.
KICK OFF!
George Ford sends it short. Game on.
Officials
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referee 1: Chris Busby (IRFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Jamie George is at the head of the England line in the tunnel, in this incredibly emotional week with him having lost his mum on Wednesday.
His team and Scotland players file out past the Calcutta Cup and into the floodlit evening.
Have a read while you wait for the match
Scotland fans, am I wrong and are you actually very confident? And do you England lot have a good feeling about this new team selection? Answer these questions or any others via email or on the X
Teams
Gregor Townsend has restored Blair Kinghorn to fullback and Kyle Steyn to the wing. There’s also a return for Jamie Ritchie in the backrow at the expense of Matt Fagerson, which suggests the Scottish coach wants a bit more ability over the ball at the ruck over carrying heft.
For England, George Furbank is a surprising selection ahead of Freddie Steward at 15. The Leicester man was man of the match v Wales, but Borthwick clearly wants a bit more mobility and handling from his fullback this week, and so have given the Northampton player the nod. Ollie Lawrence returns from injury to continue his promising international form of 2023 at inside centre, while Alex Mitchell’s injury brings Danny Care in as starting scrum-half.
SCOTLAND Blair Kinghorn; Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell (co-capt), Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Scott Cummings, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge (co-capt), Jack Dempsey.
Replacements 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Andy Christie, 21 George Horne, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Cameron Redpath.
ENGLAND George Furbank; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Danny Care; Ellis Genge, Jamie George (capt), Dan Cole, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Ethan Roots, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl.
Replacements 16 Theo Dan, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 George Martin, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Preamble
The world is full of uncertainty and worry., each day presenting further quandaries. Will my energy bill ever stop resembling the GDP of Luxembourg? Why is bubble tea so popular? What exactly is a Love Island All Star? Is Danny Care lying about his age?
In this tumultuous time one thing that should be an absolute banker is that Scotland will beat England. Four wins on the bounce for Gregor Townsend’s side coming in, alloyed to the strength of the squad and England’s huffing and puffing so far this tournament should have Scotland fans relaxed and ready to enjoy their early evening entertainment.
Except that’s not how those fans, or the team they support roll. Scotland should be sitting pretty in second after two comfortable wins, instead they are behind today’s opponents in the table having scraped one and thrown one away. It’s this incomprehensible lack of ability to deliver when expected that will have fans jittery as they wander down Haymarket Terrace.
England arrive with less expectation, with much correct talk of the home side being favourites this may breed a lack of constraint that allows the much-vaunted but as yet unseen freer Borthwick gameplan to emerge into the early spring gloaming.
This should be a cracker. Scotland want to make the point they are presently Europe’s second best team on form; while England will be determined to stop the rot of losses vs the Auld Enemy.
Kick-off: 4.45pm GMT.
