Here are five takeaways from the Six Nations match at Murrayfield after Scotland clinched the Calcutta Cup with a 30-21 victory over England.
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Scotland defeated Old Enemy in a thrilling and unstructured match at Murrayfield, extending their winning streak in the Calcutta Cup to four straight wins.
Duan van der Merwe's hat-trick as the British & Irish Lions winger ran for 113 meters on just five carries as Scotland resorted to counter-punching against a very strong but error-riddled visiting team. made headlines.
The Scottish captain's maturity cannot be underestimated, with Finn Russell taking control of the scoreboard and taking kicks to continue his 100% record in this year's Six Nations. The appeal resonated.
The match ended with George Furbank leaping over in one of England's best first phase moves in a long time, Elliot Daly making an extra man and going over the line to provide a brilliant offload for Furbank's first Test try. When I got into it, it started with a bang.
But these days Scotland are a team that knows they need to make the most of their huge potential, and slowly but surely they are developing better detail and cohesiveness under pressure. He began to overcome England's almost boyish and clumsy enthusiasm and led them to a well-deserved victory.
Simply put, today's win, while not unexpected, was a great opportunity for them to try and showcase the talent they clearly have, especially given their erratic performances against Wales and France in the previous games. So it was definitely an important stepping stone.
Error or resilience?
Was it the Englishman's series of mistakes or the Scottish emotional and intellectual resilience that was at the heart of this outcome?In truth, it was a little of both, but more. , the Scottish's mental strength, which has grown over many close results in recent years, gave the hosts a mental reference point to know how to get a result out of the situation. Match.
Scotland made just five visits to the England 22 in the first 60 minutes, but in those visits they yielded three tries and two penalties, benefiting the attacking line incredibly effectively. When you have a player like Van der Merwe in your backline you know he has the ability to finish almost at will, but on the first try Henry Slade missed yet another tackle and Van der Merwe That message clearly wasn't getting through to the England team, given the knock-on that allowed Merwe to produce the second goal.
But to blame England's mistakes entirely would be to fault Russell at fly-half and his game management brilliance. His dismissal, control and territorial intelligence were a big part of why England's handling (19 errors) collapsed under immense pressure, but Bath 10 once again saw him as a complete and assured fly-half. It proved how much he has grown.
Can't decide on defense
England's defense caused a lot of confusion for Scotland's backline, but it also served to break up the match, and given Scotland's running ability, that would always benefit the hosts. While this system can be a hot topic for many and can look impressive at times, the game currently lacks a lot of detail and consistency.
Rushing at their speed, they can only defend north to south with their own momentum, and entering the tackle area at that speed allows the Scottish backs to step and pass the charging tackler. was completed. In short, England are running so committed that they can't adapt to anything their opponents do with the ball, and this happens at least three times, one of them being Van der Merwe's That led to the first try.
Scotland player review: Hat-trick hero Duhan van der Merwe breaks England's hearts… again
On the positive side, England's breakdown also worked well. Sam Underhill had three steals and his direct clears were much more dynamic and accurate than we've seen recently. However, much of that was down to the number of players England were prepared to bring on board. Steve Borthwick would have expected more from him in terms of Premiership player stock than England were able to achieve in terms of set-piece leverage.
All in all, it shows aspects that are all in the process of being rebuilt. It shows promise and has ambition, but details, focus and execution defy its expectations, and those qualities need to be found sooner or later.
confused thoughts
There is also the issue of confused thinking, both in selection and attack.
After tearing Scotland apart at the first try with their fast hands and accurate passing in a fast-paced back department, England reverted to single out runners from the ninth and 10th innings, using Ellis Genge as a pinch-hitting substitute at outside half, Completely ignored tactics. That gave them success on the opening play.
To complicate matters further, while there is no doubt that Borthwick is picking players with form in the Premiership, what he is not doing is picking the combination of forms that have the best chance of success. . A good example of this is his policy of mixing and matching Saints players with other players, but never playing across combinations at the same time, such as Alex Mitchell and Finn Smith, or Tommy Freeman and Fraser Dingwall. There is no such thing.
Familiarity and squad units could take a big step forward when going through this rebuilding process, but Borthwick's innate loyalty to George Ford and other players could mean a complete overhaul of England's attacking ambitions. It almost prevents
But on the other hand, the influence of some of the substitutes, especially Immanuel Fay-Waboso, Chandler Cunningham-South, and the giant George Martin (apart from his knock-on), perhaps the England management are Having played a dead rubber game in the match, I think it's time for a review. With Smith quickly established in the No. 10 spot, it's time for England to give their talent the best chance of success, and Borthwick is ready to make some changes ahead of the visit to Ireland in two weeks. It will be interesting to see how it works.
🏴♀️Duan van der Merwe scores a hat-trick try! #Guinness M6N #skaven pic.twitter.com/fp11cBkBI0
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) February 24, 2024
scotland trip
In terms of effort, there may be concerns about how Scotland dealt with early breakdowns and defensive pressure, but the way they have grown into the game is a huge relief heading into the next round. right. Roma will face an Italian team that has plenty of attacking potential but perhaps lacks forward momentum.
The message will be about dominating the ball early on and starting with enough enthusiasm to take the pressure off ourselves towards the end of the game. This has happened to them three times this season, with their own on and off moments causing them to lose one game and almost lose. another.
It's about playing realistic rugby at the other end of the pitch, and the way to achieve that today is by making more use of Ben White's clearances and pursuing them more committedly. Against England, the opponents had a lot of success in the first half by chasing the players, with the aim of knocking the ball back and controlling the drop zone. Scotland reacted well in the final stages of the game by deploying two players on either side of the challenging catcher to mop up the shaky ball, but it took about 50 minutes to resolve this. This was a time that might not have been possible against a better team than England.
But the big message is that Scotland is still on the right track. They played with far greater cohesion and detail than England in this match, and their quality and newfound confidence enabled them to record another dominant and famous victory in the Calcutta Cup. Noda.
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