Five takeaways from Scotland v England

Editor

Following a drought-ending 25-13 victory for Scotland over England, here are five takeaways from that thriller at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Huw Jones the real deal: If he had any doubters in his early Test career, surely they’re all now believers that Jones is a top class young centre. His powerful surges through the heart of England’s defence – he made six for 133 metres – put Scotland in a wonderful position on the scoreboard while defensively he was also right up there with the numbers on 13 tackles. His ability to sniff out tries is remarkable.

Finn is back: Speaking of doubters, there were plenty of critics rounding on the recent showings of Scotland fly-half Finn Russell. Class is permanent however and he bounced back today with a typically classy display. When he plays like this there is a swagger about him and England were up against it as soon as Russell started showing his slick distribution and clever kicking game. A real stand-out showing.

Mature response from England: Defeat is never an easy pill to swallow but both head coach Eddie Jones and captain Dylan Hartley’s words in the post match interviews were measured and calm. It promises to be a tough journey back home and two weeks for that matter before they go to France, but the feeling from Jones and Hartley is they will use this defeat in a positive way, with les Bleus set to feel the backlash.

No fluke from Scotland: They can now add England as a high-ranked team they have defeated at Murrayfield, with Australia having been seen off late last year, a week after running New Zealand close. Make no mistake the Scots are a match for any side. Now to do it away from home.

Too many didn’t perform for England: The visitors just weren’t at the races early on at Murrayfield and while pointing fingers is never a nice thing to do, the likes of Mako Vunipola, Maro Itoje, Nathan Hughes, Danny Care, George Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Mike Brown failed to have any real impact on proceedings. That’s far too many players to have quiet days at the office. The big question is why that happened.