England Six Nations verdict: Scotland expose familiar problems despite early promise
By Daniel Schofield, Deputy Rugby Union Correspondent at Twickenham
A new England era under Steve Borthwick began with many of the same old problems blighting a performance which showed enough promise to keep Twickenham from voicing any discontent.
Given all the gloom that has enveloped rugby from all sides, this was a magnificent advertisement for the sport, a high-octane rollercoaster of a match. There was plenty of ambition and some glorious skill, not least from Duhan van der Merwe who may well have scored the try of the Championship in the first half, as well as bagging what proved to be the match-winning score six minutes from time.
England still had the opportunity to wrestle back the lead in the final moments, but after kicking for touch their maul was sacked and the attack failed to generate any momentum. Finally Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie clamped over Ben Earl to earn the penalty that ensured the Calcutta Cup went back north of Hadrian’s wall again. After a ten-year stretch in which England had exclusive possession of the trophy, Scotland have now held it for five of the last six years.
Defeat in this fixture should never be considered acceptable for England, particularly when you consider the huge gulf in resources. Yet after the lows of the autumn, when England were booed off against South Africa in Eddie Jones’ final match, the crowd recognised the endeavour and increased ambition of Borthwick’s team.
After what seemed like three years of muddled backline play, England attacked with purpose and penetration. It was not perfect. Several offloads failed to go to hand, particularly those of Alex Dombrandt. Marcus Smith and Owen Farrell are still finding each other’s wavelength – their partnership always feels like it will work better in theory than it does in practice.
At least there was a discernible structure, shape and, most importantly of all, speed following the talk of structure-position free attack which resulted in a glutinous mess at the end of the Jones’ era.
The second try scored by Max Malins just before halftime was an excellent exhibition of Nick Evans’ influence as attack coach. Joe Marchant and Dombrandt changed the point of attack with runs against the grain, sucking defenders in so when England went wide there was an overlap to exploit which was expertly executed, as Ellis Genge, Freddie Steward and Lewis Ludlam combined to put Malins over in the corner.
Malins’ first try was also well worked. England stayed patient in possession even as they seemed to lose ground from taking a five-metre tap penalty. Eventually Marcus Smith pulled the trigger with a wonderful crossfield kick, which arced into the stride of Malins who did well to ground the ball.
Yet there were plenty of familiar failings. The scrum is still more of a liability than a weapon. Twickenham used to be a graveyard for Scottish props of a certain vintage. This time, the Scottish front row looked comfortable and were able to keep the ball in the scrum in the hope of milking a free kick if not a penalty. Borthwick had labelled the scrum as one of his overwhelming priorities and, as the game went on, England started to gain the ascendancy. How sweet it must have been for Dan Cole to win a penalty in his first act as an England player since the 2019 World Cup final.
England’s indiscipline also reared its ugly head again, with ten penalties conceded, usually at the most inopportune of times. Several promising positions were compromised by unnecessary penalties such as a Steward neck roll as he tried to clear a ruck.
More costly still Ollie Hassell-Collins, sensing the crowd’s impatience with a prolonged bout of kick tennis, decided to run the ball back only to forget his support and get turned over. Scotland kicked into the 22 from where Huw Jones scored the opening try.
It was beautifully constructed. George Turner threw over the top to Ritchie who shipped it on to Finn Russell, releasing Jones who was eventually hauled down. England, though, were wobbling. Scotland moved left and then came right where, with a penalty advantage, Sione Tuipulotu superbly executed a grubber under pressure to put Jones into what seemed like 20 acres of unguarded space to put Scotland ahead.
If the exploitation of a set piece move will be a cause for concern for Kevin Sinfield, then Van der Merwe’s try could well induce a spell of insomnia for the new defence coach. It would be churlish to ignore the majesty of the score, however. It was one of the finest individual efforts to have graced international rugby’s oldest fixture. The left foot steps and change of pace was simply magnificent; the tackling which saw six England players left on the turf far less so.
If the blame could be shared for the Van der Merwe try then Ben Curry was clearly culpable for Scotland’s third. Perhaps the flanker sensed the ball was loose at a ruck, but he shot up too quickly allowing Ben White to spin past his tackle and step past Steward. The greater crime was the dog’s dinner England had made of gathering the restart of Genge’s try, which gave Scotland the field position to bring it back to a one-point game.
From there, Farrell and Russell exchanged penalties before a tiring England’s defence was once again broken apart too easily as Scotland spread the play. It was left to Ritchie to administer the last rites.
England v Scotland, as it happened:
Source: telegraph.co.uk