Scotland 31-20 England: Scots snap English winning streak and end Grand Slam hopes

With Gregor Townsend’s men getting a lineout on the England 22, patience from the team in blue earnt them a much needed penalty, which maverick fly half Finn Russell knocked over to give Scotland a 3-0 after four minutes.

Only a matter of minutes later, Scotland got themselves back into England’s 22 as winger Kyle Steyn combined with his Glasgow teammate Huw Jones and scrum half Ben White to break a normally well-organised English defence. This line break caused hattrick hero of yester-week Henry Arundell to illegally kill Scottish momentum resulting in the England and Bath flyer to be sent to the sin bin by referee Nika Amashukeli.

Capitalising on the extra man, Scotland punished Steve Borthwick’s men further. A lineout deep in English territory allowed the hosts to have a really strong attacking platform. Multiphase ball carrying in the midfield bunched the England defence tight before the ball found Jones in the wide channel to score the game’s first try of the evening. Russell added the extras giving Scotland a 10 point lead after eleven minutes.

The extra man again came into fruition only four minutes later. The hosts having a man advantage found the gaping holes in the English defence. Russell made the initial line break before combining with White and Steyn only for the latter to be brought down metres short of the English line.

The ball then travelled coast-to-coast before Tuipulotu threw a huge pass out to the recalled Jamie Ritchie in the wide channel who scored in the exact same area as his compatriot Jones. With acres of space to run into, the back rower scored Scotland’s second try of the game. Russell kept his 100% record up off the tee giving Townsend’s men a 17-0 lead after a quarter of an hour.

England broke their duck after a quarter of the match had past as Arundell made amends for his earlier mistake. Dominance in the scrum from the visitors brought a scrum penalty to which George Ford gave England the platform to attack off. Multiphase play from the big men in the middle before a delicately waited pass from the Sale Sharks man found Arundell on a hard line for him to score under the posts. Ford further reduced the English deficit with his right boot to make the score 17-7.

Further ill-discipline allowed England to swing the momentum pendulum in their favour. As standard, Ford’s boot did the talking as the England fly half knocked over a penalty to further reduce the visitors’ deficit to only a converted try in the 26^th minute.

In a topsy-turvy encounter and only a minute later, Russell again the catalyst, slipped through the English defence before nudging a delicate kick into England’s backfield. The covering Ellis Genge fumbled his pickup only for White to punce and score Scotland’s third try of the game. Russell added two more points to his tally in the match to give the hosts a 14 point lead. 24-10.

The limelight was surely on Henry Arundell as the England winger found himself in even more hot water just before the interval as the winger chased a Ford bomb but got his timing completely wrong taking Steyn out in the air. Albeit completely accidental, Amashukeli had no other alternative than to send Arundell off with a 20 minute red card.

Despite being down a man, England started the second period the better of the two sides. Finding themselves deep in Scottish territory, further dominance at the scrum gave Ford the opportunity to reduce the gap, something which the fly half did not need a second chance of. His right boot came in clutch again as England trailed 24-13 four minutes after half time.

With all the momentum and pressure in their favour, Ford dropped deep into the pocket to attempt a drop goal. However, his effort got charged down by Matt Fagerson who galloped forward before feeding Jones who raced away for his second and Scotland’s bonus point try of the game. Russell added the conversion to increase the hosts lead to 31-13.

With the game in its dying embers, England went coast-to-coast started with a move from Fin Smith finding his club teammate Henry Pollock out wide with the 20 year old galloping deep into the Scottish red zone, The ball travelled back across the pitch where it found Ben Earl who ended up scoring in the corner giving the English a glimmer of hope as Ford converted the try. But alas it wasn’t enough as Scotland won 31-20.

The Bath flyer was involved in everything positive and negative around the game of rugby union, scoring England’s first try of the game but also getting himself sin binned after eight minutes for deliberately stopping Scotland’s momentum and then sent off after 37 minutes for taking Kyle Steyn out in the air.

England were gathering momentum despite being a man down. Ford has slotted a penalty moments before dropping into the pocket for one of his trademark drop goals only for it to be charged down by Matt Fagerson who gave it to Huw Jones to secure not only his second try of the evening but also Scotland’s bonus point.

It was either England being dominant or Scotland not being able to cope but multiple scrum penalties gave England easy outs and helped the visitors invariably get points on the board.

Not only were they in charge of the close quarters around the breakdown but the scramble from Scotland managed to quieten a backline that has been firing on all cylinders recently.

Everything good that was English came through the Sale Sharks’ fly half. A world class operator with an impeccable kicking game both out of hand and off the tee, at 32 how long has Ford got left?