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6N: England v Scotland report: hosts escape to victory after late Finn Russell miss
England 16
Scotland 15
By STUART BATHGATE
AGONY. We could attempt all sorts of nuanced analysis of this match, but in the end, if you want a concise summary, that single word will surely do. How else to describe the feeling barely a minute from time when Finn Russell, presented with a chance to give Scotland an unprecedented fifth consecutive win against England, was off target with his conversion?
After a century and a half of rugby’s oldest international fixture, it seemed ironic not only that a historic victory should depend on a single conversion, but that the man who missed it should be the one who has surely contributed more to Scotland’s cause over the past decade than any of his team-mates.
It would certainly be hard to think of a crueller way for the match at Twickenham to end, although it should be pointed out that Russell’s last-gasp miss was not the only reason that Gregor Townsend‘s team failed to make it five in a row. The stand-off was also wide with his two conversion attempts in the first half of a match in which his team won the try count 3-1, but his individual failings were overshadowed by the visitors’ inability to turn pressure into more points when they had the opportunity.
6N England v Scotland reaction: Gregor Townsend upbeat in defeat
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Because Scotland dominated the first half, and should really have ended it a lot more than three points to the good. They scored two tries and could easily have got a couple more, whereas England scored one with a lot less of the ball.
It was a big contrast for the Scots to their last match, the home game against Ireland when they went 17-0 down before eventually losing 32-18. They knew they had to start a lot better than that – and that was precisely what they did.
In the opening minutes, Kyle Rowe and Blair Kinghorn both produced confident counter-attacks. And although both of those moves broke down before they could become really dangerous, it was not long before the Scots took the lead.
There were barely four minutes on the clock when Duhan van der Merwe sparked an attack then passed to Kinghorn. The full-back found Tom Jordan, who outpaced the cover defence on the left then passed inside to Ben White, who had a clear run to the line from the edge of the 22.
Five minutes later, England hit back following a penalty to touch on the right. The attack went left from the lineout, and although attempts to reach the goal line by both Tom Curry and Ben Earl were repulsed, in the end Tommy Freeman touched down close to the posts – or at least the referee ruled he had done so, as the replay angles available to the rest of us did not appear conclusive. Russell, Jordan and Pierre Schoeman all closed on the winger to try to stop him reaching the line, but a smart change of direction ensured he got over. Marcus Smith converted to give England a two-point lead.
Scotland stuck to their attacking game plan despite that setback, and Rowe and Kinghorn continued to threaten the home defence whenever they got a sniff of the ball. Midway through the half, both men were involved in the build-up as Huw Jones got the try that restored their team’s lead. After a lineout on the right, Rowe came into midfield then passed to Kinghorn. He passed to Van der Merwe, who offloaded to Jones for a score in the left corner.
Just as the first half looked like ending with Scotland ahead by just those paltry three points, England nearly struck again, against the run of the play. However, a dangerous break by Marcus Smith came to nothing, so 7-10 it stayed.
Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 8)
Arguably the two most important factors in Scotland’s first-half dominance were their superior dynamism in attack and their ability to keep their discipline. But right from the start of the second half, those two advantages began to evaporate. England replacements Elliot Daly and Chandler Cunningham-South came off the bench and injected real energy into their team, and at the same time Scotland appeared to lose some of their energy – and a great deal of their self-discipline seemed to disappear with it.
In the opening 15 minutes of the second half, the Scots gave away more penalties than they had in the first 40. Marcus Smith equalised from one of those penalties at the end of that quarter-hour, and then 10 minutes or so later added another three points. And when Fin Smith made it 16-10 with a long-range effort ten minutes from time, it looked like the game was up for Scotland.
But they saved their best attacking efforts of the half for those closing stages, and after a Stafford McDowall break and a scoring pass from Kinghorn, Van der Merwe, last year’s hat-trick hero in the fixture, touched down in the corner. It was a dauntingly difficult conversion attempt, particularly given Russell’s earlier misses, and this one also went wide.
There was time for a restart and a lengthy attempt by Scotland to run the ball back from deep, but it – and the match – ended when Rowe was wrapped up in a maul and then bundled into touch.
Although England should be considered fortunate to have emerged as the victors, there is a case for saying they deserved to win. They hung on when they were on the ropes, soaking up punishment until their opponents began to tire. They did what they had to.
As for Scotland, the recriminations that were aired after the loss to Ireland would not be appropriate here. Of course there were shortcomings, perhaps most notably the lack of points of difference on the bench, but there were some real plus points too – the outstanding performance of Jamie Ritchie, for one. Even so, after two defeats from three Championship matches, and with an apparently resurgent Wales next up at Murrayfield, the coaching team will surely dwell less on what went right in this game, and give more thought instead to how best to re-energise the squad.
Teams –
England: M Smith; T Freeman, O Lawrence, H Slade, O Sleightholme (E Daly 45); F Smith, A Mitchell (H Randall 62); E Genge (F Baxter 58), L Cowan-Dickie (J George 45), W Stuart (J Heyes 71), M Itoje, O Chessum (T Hill 79), T Curry (C Cunningham-South 47), B Earl, T Willis (B Curry 37).
Scotland: B Kinghorn; K Rowe, H Jones, T Jordan (S McDowall 65), D van der Merwe; F Russell, B White (J Dobie 65); P Schoeman (J Bhatti 71), D Cherry (E Ashman 54), Z Fagerson (W Hurd 77), J Gray (S Skinner 62), G Gilchrist (G Brown 71), M Fagerson, R Darge, J Dempsey (M Fagerson 54).
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France).
Scorers –
England: Try: Freeman. Con: M Smith. Pens: M Smith 2, F Smith.
Scotland: Tries: White, Jones, Van der Merwe.
Scoring sequence (England first): 0-5; 5-5; 7-5; 7-10 (h-t) 10-10; 13-10; 16-10; 16-15.
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Two good games of Rugby yesterday!
Scotland played very well and unlucky.
3 tries to one.
No way to complain about coaches and selection from my point of view.
The french referee was not on top either.
A really frustrating one.
I would argue 90% of what we did was very good, yet the fine margins contributed to our downfall yesterday. I thought the team played pretty well, we dominated the first half and overall were the better more inventive side. I feared at half time the mere 3 point deficit would come back to haunt us, 10-12 points ahead at half time would not have flattered us. Dont want to single out any players really but Kinghorn perhaps took the ball into contact and held onto the ball a few times when a pass was the better option. Ashman didnt cover himself in glory when he came on. Finn will be gutted by the missed kicks but these things happen, he had a decent game otherwise.
Alas we just cant win the games we really need to win to take the championship to thw wire, we have singularly failed in that regard for 25+ years and nothing changes. We are a better side than Wales but ive already got the fear for two weeks time where I can see us buckling and Wales snatching a win with a very limited gameplan. France on the final day like so many final days in our six nations, well it doesnt really matter. Thanks Gregor it hasnt been all bad by means, but we need some new ideas.
So Scotland lose and people think the game is fixed.
I reckon it is time for TOL to close the comments section. The journalists don’t deserve their pieces to be used for such utter drivel.
I thought one of our best away performances in years , I think Gregor by and large has done a great job with the talent at his disposal. People have short memories, the rugby we played in the 2000’s was appalling.We play an exciting brand of rugby and I’m proud to be a Scotland supporter. The last 9 years of 6 nations rugby we have won 22 out of 45 games , the previous 9 year we won just 9 out of 45 games !!! Fact ! We have beaten more top class sides recently than at any other time , fact ! I call that improvement
Dead easy to not make a mistake watching in the stand !!! For all those armchair critics
Kenny M
I think most fans think exactly the opposite! Given the players at his disposal Townsend has done a poor job.
6N – 3rd 5th 4th 4th 4th 3rd 4th
2 ignominious tail between the legs exits at pool stages of the 2 world cups
Simply not good enough
I think one of the best Scotland performances away from home in a long time , I think Gregor has done by and large a great job with the talent at his disposal. Very easy to criticise from the stand ! I think the style in which we play the game is fantastic, rather than the rubbish we produced in the early 2000’s
The past nine years we have won 22 out of 45 6 nations games . The previous 9 year to that we won 9 out of 45 6 nations games , we have had more victories against top class opponents than ever before , I call that progress
6N – 3rd 5th 4th 4th 4th 3rd 4th
2 ignominious tail between the legs exits at pool stages of the 2 world cups
Simply not good enough
1
Those boys were one point away from doing something no Scotland team has done in history – beating England 5 times in a row. Considering Finn has been doing return to play protocols for concussion, who knows how much time he has had on the training paddock the last 2 weeks. There were patches we were very good, and maybe in the end we just felt the loss of squad members like Tuipulotu, Graham, Steyn, Hastings, Cummings, Williamson, Christie, Bayliss…go well against Wales!
One thing that spoiled the match from my perspective, apart from the undeserved loss, was the abysmal commentary and poor camera work from ITV. Anyone listening to the commentary only would have thought that England were enjoying superiority is all aspects of the match and the camera work left a lot to be desired. Refereeing errors from an inexperienced official in awarding a try to England when the ball was held up and wrongly adjudging some crucial decisions probably cost us the match more than Finn’s missed conversion attempts.
Totally agree re ITV coverage. Camera work misses key actions. 15 mins of HT adverts and insufficient post match time removes the opportunity to carry out any analysis / reviews of action … like England’s try.
BBC is so much better. Cotter way ahead of ITV alternative. Logan so much more switched on to rugby (and all other sports) to than Mark Pougatch.
Beattie and Wilkinson are both ok as pundits though.
I’m not a fan of the number of stats used in rugby now, as the only one that really matters is the scoreboard. But our points per visit to the opposition 22 in these last couple of games is poor. The top teams always leave with something. Slight credit to England in this regard for not giving away a lot of kickable penalties. But the reality is, we always look more likely to score a try from 50m out than 5m and that’s not a good statistic. Our composure and game plan seems to disintegrate as we get closer to the line. I’d put this partly down to not having really aggressive/line busting carrying forwards. Our stand still pick and drives are easy to defend, and rather than the defensive line going backwards, we are trying to generate attack on the back foot.
100%. Scotland are a good attacking team, but only from far out. As soon as we get bogged down near the tryline, we becoming ploddingly predictable and rarely look like breaking through. A team with a good defence like England or Ireland really has no problem dealing with that 90% of the time.
A team racking up that many visits to the opposition 22 and that many metres made and only scoring 15 points has given the opposition the chance to be lucky. England were. We allowed them to be.
Poor discipline both sides of the ball cost us today. Too many players giving away promising positions by trying to do too much (too much passion, too little composure)? I’m grateful to Toony for all that he’s done but it’s not a great sign when players don’t trust in the system and try to be superman.
Pondering
Finn kicked 95.65% in last seasons 6N.
The 3 tries should’ve been enough to see off a strong but limited England but…..
Really unfortunate not to have Cummings and Williamson.
Jack Mann should’ve been on the bench yesterday.
So before the Tuipulotu injury i dreamed of a charge at the title next week will see us fighting for 4th 5th place
Yes, but Finn only kicked in the 70% bracket for Bath. His international record last season was really the aberration (a pleasing one for Scotland, but an aberration all the same).
No, he’s been a high percentage kicker internationally for a long time, and in France. His relatively poor kicking at Bath is the aberration (1 + seasons now) is not helped by playing at the stoop. Feels like something maybe has changed in his practice or routine since moving to England, from when he was at his lethal best leading into the Lions last time round.
Rec*** – swirling winds etc!
the rec, swirling winds etc.
His kicking has not been great away from the Rec either, so I wonder if it’s rather a change in technique or something?
But either way definitely a pity to see it flow through to the national team. A 35% kicking ratio from Finn for the Six Nations is really not what we need right now.
What a thrilling match! England really had to dig deep to secure that win. Finn Russell’s miss at the end was heartbreaking for Scotland, especially after such a strong first half. Can’t wait for the next game!
That performance should come as no surprise to anyone against shall we say a somewhat limited england team. Most england supporters are pretty downbeat despite the result and every reasonable viewer probably agrees Scotland should have won and probably convincingly. So why didnt we. Every game is obviously slightly different but the fundamental issues we have had over a number of years have never been adequately addressed by Townsend , namely our ability to build pressure in the opposition 22 which results in a score, constantly giving away soft penalties allowing the other side to build scoreboard pressure and failure to deal with up and unders ( an absolutely fundamental part of the modern game) and appointing a captain who can actually manage the referee so that we get the benefit of 50/50 calls. Change at the helm is way overdue.
An especially gutting result this one, because there was so much good in there, and it was a game that absolutely should have been won.
Despite an excellent England defence, the backs mostly delivered on the (well thought through) game plan and delivered plenty of attacking potency. Jamie Ritchie again showed why he should always been in our starting squad. And the lineout issues that have for so long plagued Scotland, seem almost like a distant memory (hat tip to Dave Cherry). Three tries to one tells an important story – just not the only one, sadly.
You can certainly complain about certain decisions by the ref (though Scotland arguable were lucky with a couple of decisions too), but the reality is if you give away that many penalties, and have a kicker who makes 0% of their kicks, you are always going to struggle, regardless of everything else. England played for points and took their chances – Scotland didn’t. And that ultimately was the difference.
“GT still does not recognise that scrums are still an incredibly important part of the game and we should give Zander a rest and start with a TH that can scrum consistently.”
Do you realise who our alternatives are? Zander is picked because, among other things, he is our best scrummager.
This idea that we should somehow not be starting Zander, of all people, is one of the most bizarre I’ve seen in quite a while on here (and that’s saying something).
Who else are you picking at tighthead? Sadly Ian Milne, Sandy Carmichael and Ewen Murray are no longer available
Ok, i’ll humour you, what other international class tighthead do we have, that would do a better job?
Ok, i’ll humour you, what other international class tighthead do we have, that would do a better job?
Why oh why does GT bother to have substitutes as he clearly does not know how to pick or use his bench effectively. He never learns and IMHO he needed to go a long time ago probably after Japan WC.
I know we have to use Zander to carry a lot because we have no 2nd row who can but his first job is the scrum. What is the point of him carrying 10 times in a game and making 30 metres when his scrum penalties cost us 200m in territory and momentum.
Not just his fault in the scrums but Genge is not as pointed out b someone else a strong scrummager and like Zander is picked for his work in the loose. Zander was mullered today and Schuman is unable to scrum straight.
GT still does not recognise that scrums are still an incredibly important part of the game and we should give Zander a rest and start with a TH that can scrum consistently. You cannot win a game in the first 30 minutes but you certainy can lose it as per everytime we play Ireland.
Why not try having Zander come on with 30 mins to go when the opposition are tiring because as others have said he is running on empty.
His chances of being a Test Lion are receding as well but hopefully he should still make the touring party.
Just watched 5 minute clip of game on bbc website.
Russell first conversion attempt was easiest and he should have made that one.
Second was just a metre in from touch .. tough one.
Third one he makes harder for himself … DvtM touches down almost in line with 5 mtr line , but Finn takes the kick from about 2 mtr from touch. If he kicks from just 2 mtr further infield , the ball goes beyond the left hand post … and over !!
The rubbish ITV live coverage doesn’t show where / if the ref tells him where the kick has to be taken from …. given the game hangs on this kick, and he’s missed a couple , he should be trying to steal yards and not give them away.
Just adds to the frustration !
Agreed should be trying to steal yards plus VdM HAD to run towards the posts a few more yards, nobody could have held him up even if he got caught so there was no risk – schoolboy stuff. Townsend should have been raging at the lack of control and killer instinct when camped on their line.
I was at the game. The ref made him move it out. Finn argued the point but the ref pulled it at least 3m wider
I also noticed that. Typical Scotland that neither Finn nor Duhan took this up with the ref and had the try position checked by the TMO to ensure the kick was taken from it’s correct position. Unless Finn had in mind that if he took the kick without any delay then there was time for Scotland to receive the kick off from England …
This ref is out of his depth – have watched him a few games and I have no idea what his rule book says because some of his decisions are bizarre …
On ITV programme today , they showed what happened on the last conversion. The Ref actually made Russell move the ball 2 metres back towards the touch line … totally the wrong place. 2 metres forward , it goes over
Oh . … and no proof that Freeman ‘try’ is touched down
Ref did us no favours at all !
Really don’t get the negativity from some after this performance. We were one conversion away from a great win. And whilst I’m not blaming Finn for the last one, the first was straightforward in perfect kicking conditions and in tight games these kicks really matter. In contrast Fin Smith nails one from half way.
I thought it was an excellent performance with the backs outstanding running the English ragged at times. It was hard to believe it was only 10-7 at half time and the English fans next to me thought they were lucky still to be in the game and were impressed with our back play. One more try would have done us. In the 2nd half it maybe wasn’t quite as fluent. We did have 2 good visits to their 5m line but never finished and that remains a problem area when we try the pick and go routine. The forwards did OK in line out and loose and delivered decent ball to give the backs some room. The scrum was under pressure and we gave away several penalties which game them some easy outs.
So overall a good performance and if only we’d got one of the conversions we’d all be celebrating a great win. Engl
Only one word to describe your musings…..delusional
Prey tell me which comment you disagree with rather than hurling insults. Was it the missed conversions – simply stating facts, That the backs played well or that the scrum creaked a bit or we failed to finish from 5m. At least explain your thoughts.
Its not an insult its an opinion. Specifically re your comment that it was an excellent performance. You do not lose matches against a very average team like england by turning in an excellent performance. Obviously elements were good but in no way was that overall an excellent performance and I am utterly incredulous that anyone would think it was.
I think you may need to buy a dictionary!
The SRU has to end this nonsense now before the shareholders (the fans) file a lawsuit to force much needed change!
What nonsense? A kicker with a 0% record in a match? A ref who awards a try that clearly wasn’t grounded.
The nonsense of us somehow being in the mix for the wooden spoon with a squad that should be challenging for the championship
Poor game management again to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory against a bang average England team. Had Freemam scored that try against Ireland, Caelan Doris would have stopped the referee from restarting the game until it was checked by the TMO. Same nonsense with Duhan’s try at the end. Finn took the conversion 3 meters further out than where Duhan touched the ball down. We lack basic game IQ and the responsibility for this lies squarely with the coach. Toony is spending today watching the video again 2-3 times to see how many bad calls went against us. What’s the point when the horse has already bolted…?
You think the fans are going to file a lawsuit to force a change?
Has that ever happened anywhere in the history of sport?
The fans aren’t the shareholders of the SRU anyway. The whole thing is so over the top as to be farcical.
Gutting but much more positive than two weeks ago – we can’t just expect to go down there and win every time. Thought Finn was very good apart from the kicks. It’s tough for the backs though, the forwards scrapped but you just can’t rely on them to get any go forward. Breakdown was very strangly managed to say the least.
I am open to saying Townsend has reached the end, but the idea that there is no potential downside. He has proven himself a very good international coach. Even today, his creatove fingers were all over those tries. Franco Smith may galvanise the team, or he may struggle.
I think it’s certainly true that assuming Franco will be the great saviour of the national team is quite a leap. His previous international stint was not a success. At the very least, you want any transition to be orderly, not panicked.
And let’s remember that last time Glasgow Warriors fans were pressuring the SRU to replace the Scotland coach on the back of Glasgow winning a trophy and with great predictions of their coach leading Scotland to a new golden age, that coach was none other than Gregor…
Just home from twickenham. dominant in most areas apart from the one that really counts. A few thoughts:
Russell-clearly so so much credit in the bank and from the stands ran the line well. However 0/3 in a game like today is the difference between nearly rans and winners
Ashman- unclear to me what he brings to the team. Inconsistent darts, stupid penalties and blind passes. Huge drop off when Cherry left the field.
Townsend- statistics say he is our all time great as head coach. But as with the game vs Ireland where we looked much better than we were, statistics don’t tell the whole picture in rugby. Some truly great days and has clearly left us in a better place than he found us but has failed to kick on with a very talented squad and maybe time for someone else to bring some fresh ideas.
Ashman
Once again, the second half drop off cost us.
What is the downside of going with Franco?
What is the upside of staying with Gregor?
I think the real worry will be losing Franco elsewhere so SRU need to be a bit savvy there. Arguably ever bit as important to invest in top quality coaches at each of Glasgow and Edinburgh as in the international post, so if you bring Franci to Scotland you are still trying to find anoth top quality coach – any saving here would be a false economy. GT is not without faults, does not appear to be a goood manager and must have been in post longer than any other international coach by a margin? That said I do think he is probably a very good backs/attack coach and can only imagine what might have happened if he was full time backs coach with Vern Cotter. We know that our packs will always be somewhat under sized /under powered at the highest level all the more reason for them to be as tight as possible as a unit. I was always told you will never play better than you train. Appreciate the game has moved on since the days of Jim Telfer but the pack always look like they need more pressure put on them in training, need to be more aggressive. We do not appear to have big aggressive 2nd rows which is a shame as most sides we come up against will have so we are almost starting on the back foot. It would be nice if the 2nd roow were good but they have(!) to be physical. So as a minimum I think we desperately need a coach that can bring more dog to that pack. That’s a requirement whether GT stays or not.
” . . . does not appear to be a good man manager . .”
Let’s remember that last time there was a change in coach, it was Gregor getting the top job (and Vern getting unceremoniously, and unfairly, forced out prematurely) on the back of his leading Glasgow to a league win, and Glasgow fans proclaiming him the saviour of Scottish rugby as a result.
There is a real risk of repeating the mistakes of the past here – Scotland would likely have seen more success had Gregor joined the national side as an assistant coach at first and focused on his areas of strength. The gap between club coach and national team head is a big one.
Whats the downside of going with Franco? We have no evidence he will actually be better as an international coach, and some indications he could be worse. His previous international stint saw Italy in the doledrums, and him ultimately being forced out. His main qualification for the job seems to be having led Glasgow to a URC trophy, something that Gregor also did immediately before taking charge..
What’s the upside of staying with Gregor? His period in charge has seen Scotland, while not winning championships, also not be struggling at the bottom of the table, as we often were before him. We play (mostly) entertaining and enjoyable rugby, and that has seen stadiums be full, and interest in the national team at an all time high for the modern era.
I can see the argument for either, but I certainly don’t see that Franco is a total no brainer of a decision. He may be better, but it’s certainly not inconceivable he may be worse.
Our biggest issue, outside of missing kicks, was our carrying in the last 20 minutes. We were being stopped dead or knocked backwards, even when we managed to manufacture forwards running into their backs. Gregor Brown in particular was easily handled on the outside channels and didn’t bring anything to the party. Little they can do about that though. They all tried their best.
I’m pleased to see Townsend call out the decisions. Who cares about sour grape accusations. My only complaint is that he didn’t go in hard enough and highlight the Itoje comedy jackal.
The ITV director’s decision to cut as soon as doubt was about to be cast over the English try was brazen. In a sport were we are now treated to 20 replays of mundane nonsense they just decided we didn’t need to see the ball hit the turf. That’s a battle we can’t pick because the broadcasters hold so much power.
Is rugby “clean”? Did you see the Wales v Ireland game and the 3 penalties the ref gave to Ireland but were overturned on the intervention of the touch judges and TMO? What did the ref see that 5 million live TV viewers did not see to award those penalties to Ireland in the first place? Ireland 5 scrum penalties awarded against them but not one warning or yellow card to their two props for illegal scrummaging? Gary Ringrose’s kamikaze blind side head shot on Ben Williams deemed a 20 minute red card when all 3 BBC commentators, including Nigel Owens, said it was dangerous, reckless and an automatic red! Is rugby “clean”???
No is the answer. Results are often determined by the TV script.
That’s not to say it only happens to us. England have been mugged quite a few times in recent years since they’re no longer bookies favourites for most games. They were cheated out of a win against France in Lyon last year with a nonsense penalty decision in the last play of the game. France were also awarded the win against us last year to keep the TV directors happy.
I think you are right. And all these highly paid TV pundits commenting on every game but none of them have the b***s to challenge the obvious wrong calls by referees and TM= officials. Today, we had to listen to the full repertoire of these con artists!
You sound like rugby’s Donald Trump only with even less knowledge of what is happening in the real world!
Won’t be popular and likely result in a penalty to SRU but i’d like to see Townsend pull a Rassie and pop out a 1 hour video of the decisions referees/TMO’s keep ‘accidently’ getting wrong against Scotland throughout this 6N. You could spend a good 20 minutes on that Ireland game alone.
The process behind the scenes clearly does not work.
If it’s good enough for Erasmus who is now regarded as one of the best coaches of all time it’s good enough for Townsend.
Freeman try, Itojes steal in the air, Gregor Browns missed high shot, Kyle Rowes chokehold, questionable fairness in the scrum… and this was one of the better reffed games i thought for us!
A tremendous performance across the board. All you doubters and critics should eat humble pie. Winning is not everything, the performance is massive. The big ask is now to reproduce it against Wales and France.
I hear what you say Iain but bottom line is this is a repeated pattern under Townsend and how many of us have any true belief that we’ll perform and win against Wales and France? Show us the previous evidence of life under Townsend that we will? In fact, we are exactly the type of team that Wales want to play next as if there is ever a team that will gift them a win when they need it is a Townsend coached Scotland!!
The evidence is in his record, best of any coach in the pro era. Do you not remember the dross that was served up to the fans before GT took over. It’s fun, entertaining and brings the neutrals in who fill Murrayfield. My English pals take the result from today but nothing else, they despair the way England play because they know if they carry on this way they will not win consistently against top opposition.
That evidence is skewed Iain as show us where it really counts that we have performed. Never better than 3rd in the 6 Nation, not out the group stages in the last 2 World Cups and not even firing a shot in either of them. The same story time and time again against a team that physically is bigger than us aka Ireland and SA. Throwing away the France and Italy games last year. And if we’re honest doing the same today. I don’t care what your English pals think. I care about Scotland. I want us to play with the panache and style we undoubtely have but I also want us to win. And frankly there has never been any evidence that Townsend is capable of having has performing and winning consistently.
Give it a rest Iain! We need a coach to take the team to the next level. We’ve had the best and deepest squad ever and failed to take the next step up. It’s groundhog day and change is needed. Franco Smith has proved at Glasgow how to get the best out of players and needs to be installed as national coach this summer.
Starting to think Scottish Rugby is not “clean” and people like Iain and his English pals are all hired guns by marketing interests to fool the Scottish rugby paying public to believe that what the SRU serves up is good for you!!!
Sorry Iain, but they still won and as we know pro sport is all about results.
Scotland style and game plan may currently be the antithesis to England’s rugby – but we continue to play this way and we don’t consistently win against top opposition…..
Not saying that we throw the baby out with the bath water, but we need to alter the game plan or coaching somewhere that makes the most of our entries into the red zone…. All too often we cough up possession and territory that is hard won and only seem to be able to score with clean breaks – we must have more to our game.
“Better than before” and “fulfilling your true potential” are two different things.
Unless we try something different, we’ll never know about that latter.
A tremendous performance would include scoring more often than in one in ten visits to the 22
Wrong, winning is everything. There isn’t a supporter out there who wouldn’t take a slam or two whilst playing Warrenball as opposed to our champagne style wooden spoon dodging.
Drive for show and putt for dough!
It doesn’t matter how good our backs are if we can’t score from the forwards from 5m out. That is what will turn round more results for us than any other single thing. And it’s not because they aren’t good enough, just don’t appear drilled and coached well enough in that area.
The most Scottish performance and result. Ever.
We should have been…and deserved to be…at least 20 points up at half time. But the fact that we weren’t gave an impending feeling of doom that turned out to be more than a feeling.
Excellent in the lineout, (reasonably) OK in the scrum, utterly dominant with the ball in hand….it’s hard to get away from the feeling that any other top 6 or 7 team would have put at least 40 points on a limited England side.
But not us. Missed convertions, white line fever and a very poor referee means that we have to wring our hgands once again. Sick of this.
Just Painful……
Backs were sublime and forwards combative, but very very wasteful. Let’s not start on the ref, the try that may not have been, etc, as we created plenty opportunity to be out of sight by HT.
I can see sometimes why we rush or lose patience when in the red zone as we are not as confident in our own abilities in the forwards 5m out… That can be fixed but only if we change what and how we coach. Richie Gray as forwards coach anyone?
Big game v Wales in two weeks, which after their performance today is now a very different game. Lose that and the wooden spoon lurks on points difference.
Don’t want to start GT bashing as we have played some wonderful rugby and won some great games, but we have peaked… and something needs to change.
Try count in Scotlands favour. Lacked that final finish sadly.
Franco Smith. Now. Bring on the Finn, Smith era.
Why?
How long have you got?
Would Franco have made Finn kick his kicks? Or the ref not award the non-grounded try? What do you *really* imagine he would somehow have done massively differently in this game?
Do you really think playing Jonny Matthews instead of Dave Cherry would somehow have won the game?
There was plenty to criticise strategically in the Ireland game. Not so here – the strategy was sound and the execution was mostly pretty good, driven by excellent work by the backs. The issues with the forwards are not something that a new coach is somehow going to suddenly fix.
Good game did the usual switch of for the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half, not Finn’s day, usual penalties so just the usual day at the office really, GT has got to do something now like look for a new job perhaps
Why?