Label volunteer writer Leah Langley discusses Scotland’s high win over England in the Six Nations Tournament, being their first win at Twickenham in 38 years.
Saturday February 6th saw the return of a much awaited Six Nations tournament that everyone could tune into and enjoy. England were facing Scotland and viewers were on tenterhooks to see who would be taking the victory. England were favourites to win, however, it wasn’t meant to be as Scotland turned up ready to win and they weren’t prepared to let anything get in their way.
The match was nothing short of historic as it marked the 150th anniversary of the first time that England and Scotland had faced each other. Scotland had not secured a win at Twickenham in 38 years, and this has been the major talking point in the build-up to the match.
Story of the Match
Within the first five minutes, four penalties had been conceded by the relatively inexperienced England side, and the fourth enable Scotland fly-half, Finn Russell the opportunity to put his team in the lead. He helped them gain a three-point lead before he helped set up a try for Duhan van der Merwe. England were able to scrape back six points as Russel was briefly halted by the issuing of a yellow card. Scotland were unrattled as they managed to add another penalty to their lead.
The referee had, had enough by the time England conceded their eight penalty, and sent Billy Vunipola to the sinbin after he was caught offside. Scotland were able to score another one over near the left corner, but their joy was halted after they gave a penalty to England and captain, Owen Farrell, sent a ball over the post. When lining up for his second penalty, he asked for a trip by Russell on England’s Ben Youngs to be reviewed which lead to a yellow card for the opposition meaning Russell had to leave the field. Farrell scored his penalty and the lead was cut to two. Scotland’s game became more relentless as the end of the game drew nearer and when the final whistle blew, the score was standing at 6-11, in Scotland’s favour.
Aftermath
Following the game, England head coach, Eddie Jones said, “They tough, edged the set-piece, won in the air and we just could not get in the game. We were not at the races today … I take responsibility – I didn’t prepare the team well enough. We just had one of those days. We don’t have many, but we had a bad day today.”
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said, “There was a calmness on and off the field. I don’t know whether it’s because there’s no crowd … It felt like the players were in control today. We had a bit of defence to do at the end, but the players stood up well. I’m very proud of the performance and there’s a lot more to come from the players.”
England’s defeat after the shocking defeat of Italy, against France, has hit home that the championships may not go the way that people had originally anticipated. The matches to come will be entertaining for more reason than one as everyone waits to see just what is in store.
Header by: Annabel Smith
Edited by: Lois George
