15. Stuart Hogg – 9
Captain courageous. Set the tone in terms of commitment and attitude. Solid at the back, secure under the high ball, always a threat ball in hand and his siege gun-kicking was sensational.
14. Sean Maitland – 9
Maybe his best game in a Scotland shirt. Tidy in defence, magnificent in the air, chased hard all afternoon but particularly in lead up to Van der Merve’s try.
13. Chris Harris – 8
The game did not really go his way – but somebody must have been snuffing out England’s highly-hyped midfield threat.
12. Cameron Redpath – 9
An outstanding debut – as if to the manner born – smooth hands and a quick eye – picked a great line on his first touch – and won a couple of very important turnovers.
11. Duhan van der Merwe – 8
A physical threat throughout, and there was a lot still needing done for his try – not many wingers would have had the raw power needed to score it.
England v Scotland report: success at last at Twickenham
Game of two halves in inter-city ‘A’ match at wind-lashed Scotstoun
Women’s and Under-20s Six Nations schedule announced
10. Finn Russell – 9
The talisman dictated terms and played the game exactly where he wanted to play it. Kicked superbly and kicked clever. Hard done by for his yellow card, missed a couple of goal kicks you would want him to kick, and risked letting England in to pinch it with his last-minute attempted drop goal, when all he needed to do was let the forwards run the clock down.
9. Ali Price – 8
A torrid opening ten minutes when Maro Itoje charged down two of his box kicks, but he settled down to provide an effective link between his rampant forwards and his authoritative half-back partner, and he ran the show himself when Russell was in the sin bin.
Scroll down to continue reading:
1. Rory Sutherland – 9
Well on top until the last scrum before he was subbed when fatigue hit and the English reinforcements came into play. Put himself about in the loose, but whilst he was maybe unlucky to give away what could have been a costly penalty at the restart after Van der Merwe’s try, it should not happen – although that should not prejudice his Lions place.
2. George Turner – 9
Threw brilliantly, carried powerfully, worked his socks off around the field – and kept his cool when Cameron Redpath put him into space in the lead up to Van der Merwe’s try.
3. Zander Fagerson – 8
Scrummed well and put in a big shift in and around the breakdown – making the short but heavy and critical hard yards time and time again.
4. Scott Cummings – 8
An unsung hero – roamed all over the park making things happen – rapidly maturing into a world class lock, he did not give Itoje an inch all afternoon – and did not appear discomfited in the slightest by his move into the back-row with ten minutes to go.
5. Jonny Gray – 9
Magnificent. Ruled the line-out – secure on his own ball and a couple of really important steals, putting his obstreperous Exeter teammate Jonny Hill firmly back in his box in the process – and some great defensive work to boot.
6. Jamie Ritchie – 8
Tremendous effort – unbelievable work-rate and commitment, working for the most part under the radar. Never took a backward step against a very powerful English backrow.
7. Hamish Watson – 9
Stepped up to the plate alongside Jamie Ritchie. Dominated the breakdown – carried well – and tackled like a demon.
8. Matt Fagerson – 8
Carried well – exploding into the game in the lead up to Van der Merwe’s try – and did his bit at the line-out on England’s ball.
Replacements
16. Dave Cherry – 6
Replaced Turner with 13 minutes to go. It has been a long hard road – but he has got there – and well deserved too!
17. Oli Kebble – 6
He is a big unit and pretty one-paced – but in fairness, he kept the scrum together after replacing Sutherland in the 64th minute.
18. WP Nel – 6
He did what we know he can do in the scrum once for those last 16 minutes – and put a bit into the defensive wall.
19. Richie Gray – 7
It was as if he had never been away.
20. Gary Graham – 7
Nothing if not aggressive.
21. Scott Steele – 7
Did what was needing done during he last 11 minutes – stuck the ball in the box.
22. Jaco van der Walt – N/A
Didn’t get on.
23. Huw Jones – 6
A fleeting eight-minute cameo, but he appeared to enjoy it.
Need to say player ratings are rather high. Jonny Grau and Hamish Watson deserve 9 but take 1 off everyone else bar the subs.
I disagree with the Russell rating. I thought he was headstrong and poor in judgement. Some of his kicking was just awful. His reaction to being carded was to smile. The trip might have been instinctive but it was utter madness. He left his team with a mountain to climb with a hurting England looking to exploit it. Fortunately for him, his team mates picked up the pace, and his captain marshalled the game very well.
He needs to look at that game and review what went on. He’s not Errol Flynn, and he needs to remember its not just him that suffers for poor judgement.
The fact you don’t understand why he smiles shows how little you know about the player, the reason he is one of the best attacking players in the world is that he does not beat himself up over his mistakes, he smiles, brushes it off and move on to the next thing. Be grateful we have a player of his ability, they do not come around often for Scotland.
I agree with you his rating is to high however. I thought it was a poor game by his high standards… still outplayed Farrell and dictated the attacking plays well which shows the level he is at.
When people tell others they don’t understand something you know the rest of the post isn’t worth reading.
He comes from my home club…shows how much you suppose of others.
Player ratings are inevitably subjective but this was a brilliant team performance however, I do agree some of these are slightly generous . Redpath for example played really well but he wasn’t a 9 , likewise Price . What was telling was the Towering performances of the experienced leaders who really stood up , led by Jonny Gray , Hogg. Russell and the understated Maitland . Only Duhan VDM would have scored that try with his exceptional power and pace. Had he not , we could have lost . The challenge is to get far better return from such an otherwise outstanding performance.
Had he not been playing there would’ve been a ruck at the English line from which we may well have scored. It’s pointless to speculate, it was what it was and just enjoy the win 🙂 To go over such things would get us to a point whereby there would have been no game at all.
Even with tartan specs on, I find it hard to argue the Russell yellow card! The response from the team was superb though. In fact it felt like a ‘greatest hits’ of fixing past failings: not collapsing after a yellow, discipline, creativity at 12, playing with less ‘speed’ but more intensity. We even stayed on the right side of an Irish ref!
J Gray looked a proper Lion, maybe for the first time. And that’s 3 consecutive head to heads where Russell has totally outplayed Farrell.
Just googled player ratings England v Scotland, read a couple which were pretty spot on for a poor England performance & a great Scotland performance, I then came across this one, I knew it must be a Scottish one instantly!, seriously, whoever compiled this, give yourself a slap!, Finn Russell 9, Ali Price 8?. We know that you Scots are full of nationalistic hubris, but at least be realistic, would have loved to have seen your England player ratings, if you could have been bothered!.
Peter – TOL does consistently over-mark our own players and if you’re a regular reader of this site you’ll see that the readers (mostly Scots) pick them up on this regularly. For whatever reason they never rate the opposition.
An Englishman accusing Scots of hubris – very amusing!
The English ratings! To be fair you only need to look at the score
Or around the bend the Train came puffing, Scotland Won England nothing.
Anyway thanks for reading the offsideline, and good luck against Italy.
A good read, but player ratings are a bit meaningless if you only offer them for one side. Maybe the England ratings are elsewhere but I can’t find them?
Cracking game from the Scots, they played with the spirit, intensity and cohesion the England seemed totally lacing
Probably best not to give the England player ratings so as not to embarrass them.
Magnificent.Numer 8 has been our biggest headache. Matt Fagerson had his best game ever and Gary Graham had a strong cameo. Cam Redpath looks quality. Finn and Hoggy so much better with class players around them