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England’s alarming defeat against Scotland a major setback for Borthwick
Scotland 31-20 England
This was a rude and humbling awakening for England. Not only have their Grand Slam hopes been dashed, but the alarming manner of this Calcutta Cup defeat has landed a serious dent in their aspirations to become serious contenders for next year’s World Cup.
For all the progress made during their 12-match winning streak, including victories over New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham last November, the trip to Murrayfield was an opportunity to prove their mettle on the road. This was a major test of their evolution, and they were found alarmingly wanting.
England had gone into this game with momentum following their demolition of Wales last weekend, and with expectations of hunting down silverware this season. It is that context that made this defeat so disappointing, with not even a bonus point for their efforts.
Since the post-2023 World Cup rebuild, Steve Borthwick’s side have only managed Six Nations away wins against Italy and Wales. After all the steps forward, this felt like a major step back. Now the trips to Rome and Paris look more daunting, so too will the visit of Ireland next weekend.
Surprisingly it is Scotland, humbled themselves last weekend by Italy in Rome, who have shown the way in their utterly brilliant response to defeat on the road. England must pick themselves up in a similar fashion if they are to resurrect their own title hopes.
What will have frustrated Borthwick was the error-strewn nature of the display, the ill-discipline, the lack of impact of his bench and the way their game plan fell apart under pressure. Two yellow cards in the first half for Henry Arundell resulted in the wing receiving a 20-minute red card and they never recovered from the disruption. This time there was no second-half comeback, or impact from the bench.
Not since Scotland’s 33-6 victory in 1986, when Gavin Hastings was in his pomp, have England been cut open here with such swagger. Given the pressure on Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, this, his 100th Test match in charge, could not have been sweeter.
It is remarkable to think that just seven days earlier, Scotland had crashed to defeat in the rain in Rome against Italy while England were cruising against a hapless Wales side at Twickenham. England’s one-sided victory was no preparation for the onslaught they faced here and to Scotland’s immense credit they produced a staggering performance from the depths of despair.
They were magnificent, playing some of the best rugby of Townsend’s tenure, with Finn Russell once again at his mercurial best, his attacking ambitions and skill execution bringing the best out of his back line. Huw Jones continued his try-scoring record, with his pair bringing his Calcutta Cup total to eight.
“After 20 minutes I thought that was some of the best rugby we’ve ever played,” said Townsend. “It’s all you want as a coach and then to see the effort in the second half, we became a team that would fight for each other and the supporters.
“We know that rugby brings out the best in us, being very aggressive and playing at speed. I thought that was one of Finn Russell’s best games for Scotland and the work rate of our forwards was superb.”
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
