Russell's redemption comes as Scotland seal rare England win
Finn Russell delivered a decisive and redemptive performance as Scotland stunned a sloppy England 25-13 at Murrayfield to end Grand Slam hopes for Eddie Jones’ side.
Calcutta Cup clashes between these sides have been typically one sided in favour of the English, and the Scots came into the contest smarting from a 61-21 demolition at Twickenham last year – a victory which saw England match the All Blacks‘ world-record winning run.
And though England were a shadow of that in Edinburgh on Saturday, Scotland were infinitely improved, displaying the pulsating ball-carrying tactics that Gregor Townsend’s men had been tipped to thrill us with in this Six Nations.
Scotland had not scored a Six Nations try against England at Murrayfield in 14 years, but they had three by the end of a stunning first half – Huw Jones twice touching down either side of a Sean Maitland score that Russell played the central role in.
Russell was hauled off a fortnight ago against France after an error-strewn display but he knitted together Scotland’s attack in this contest, vindicating Townsend’s faith.
The visitors roared out after the interval, knowing Ireland had beaten Wales earlier in the day and secured a bonus point, but could not add to Owen Farrell’s touchdown and now face a daunting trip to Paris on March 10, while Scotland will hope to maintain form and blow the competition wide open when they head to Dublin on the same day.
FULL TIME | The Calcutta Cup is ours! #AsOne
Scotland come out victorious at BT Murrayfield today against England, 25-13! pic.twitter.com/ZgYB4Y3r6W
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 24, 2018
Reports of a bust-up in the tunnel filtered through before kick-off and the contest began at a suitably furious pace, with Greig Laidlaw and Farrell trading penalties, but Scotland forged ahead amid the chaos.
Russell had been so pilloried a fortnight previously, but he got away a grubber as Farrell charged in, which Jones prodded beyond the wrong-footed Anthony Watson and dotted down.
Farrell immediately cut the deficit, but England were poor with ball in hand and Scotland made them pay with a spectacular score.
Again, Russell’s fingerprints were present. A long floated pass teased would-be interceptors on its way to Jones, who charged half the length of the field and another beautiful ball by the fly-half found Maitland with the room to touch down under duress, with Laidlaw unable to convert from the touchline.
3 – Scotland have scored more tries in the first half today (3) than they had in their previous nine @SixNationsRugby games against England at Murrayfield. Chaos. pic.twitter.com/u6GyCBRkDw
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) February 24, 2018
The Scotland of pre-tournament speculation had arrived and Jones extended the lead further with another score, dashing between Farrell and Nathan Hughes, before powering over the line with Watson and Mike Brown hanging from him, a 16-point half-time advantage secured by Laidlaw’s boot.
So often England’s inspiration, Farrell provided the fast start to the second half they needed, skirting around Grant Gilchrist as the lock was caught narrow and converting his own score.
Nigel Owens called Danny Care back as the scrum-half raced clear on an intercept – Stuart Hogg missing a consequent long-range penalty – and England were denied again when Farrell raced through to touch down, only for the try to be ruled out by the TMO for a knock-on as Courtney Lawes rocked John Barclay with the tackle which forced the ball loose.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to comments