Gregor Townsend reveals heavy injury toll in victory over England

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend was mesmerised by the performance of his swashbuckling side after their rousing 31-20 Calcutta Cup triumph at Murrayfield ended England’s 12-game winning streak.

The Scots breathed new life into their Guinness Six Nations campaign with their heaviest victory over the Auld Enemy since 2018 after Huw Jones’ double either side of scores from Jamie Ritchie and Ben White.

Henry Arundell hit back for England in between being shown two yellow cards in the first half – which led to a 20-minute red – before a late consolation from Ben Earl.

The victory allowed the Scots to lift the Calcutta Cup for the seventh time in nine years and was particularly timely for the embattled Townsend, who had come under intense pressure after an 18-15 defeat by Italy in last weekend’s championship opener.

“I’m so proud,” said Townsend. “During that first 20-30 minutes, I had to snap myself out of what I was thinking, because it was just tremendous, and being a supporter, seeing the rugby that the players were playing, I had to realise I was a coach again, and I snapped out of it quite quickly.

“Obviously the second half, we were getting penalised at times, but we kept together, and how we defended our line, and then how we regained control, that makes me equally as proud as how we started the game.

“We’ve had a good time together in the changing room, so these are the emotions that make you realise that coaching, and still being involved in the game is hugely rewarding, gives you massive purpose in your life and why you do it.

“But it’s the players that drive our performance, the players that drove it during the week, and they drove it today in the game.”

Townsend revealed that Jack Dempsey, Jamie Dobie and Ritchie all suffered potentially “serious” injuries that could impact their participation in the remainder of the championship.

It was a fourth defeat in five visits to Murrayfield for England and served as a major dent to their hopes of capping their resurgence over the past year with a first title since 2020.

Red Rose head coach Steve Borthwick was “bitterly disappointed” and felt the 30 minutes they were down to 14 men, in which Scotland scored three of their tries, “hurt” his side.

“Huge credit to Scotland, I thought they played really well,” he said. “Clearly, playing such a huge part of the game without a winger against a team that was moving the ball to that edge so much, that hurt us and ultimately gave us too much to do in the second half.

Borthwick was of no mind to take issue with either of Arundell’s yellow cards.

“To be honest, when I’m in the game, I don’t spend any time looking back when the referee makes a decision,” he said. “I go on trying to think about how we’re going to deal with the situation.

“Henry’s disappointed, as all the players are but I’m sure he’ll bounce back.”