6N 2018: Scotland v England, 24 February

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SCOTLAND v ENGLAND
24 February 2018
KO: 16:45 GMT
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Live on [Old BBC Colonial]

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant 1: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant 2: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

A. Head to Head

135 Played 135
42 Won 75
18 Drawn 18
75 Lost 42
1,162 Points 1,623

B. Recent Form 

2 February 2013
Twickenham, London
38 – 18 to England

8 February 2014
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
0 – 20 to England

14 March 2015
Twickenham, London
25 – 13 to England

6 February 2016
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
9 – 15 to England

11 March 2017
Twickenham, London
61 – 21 to England

C. Teams

SCOTLAND 

Hogg, Seymour, Jones, Horne, Maitland, Russell, Laidlaw; Reid, McInally, Berghan, Gilchrist, J Gray, Barclay (capt), Watson, Wilson.

Replacements: Lawson, J Bhatti, WP Nel, Swinson, Denton, Price, Grigg, Kinghorn.

ENGLAND

Brown, Watson, Joseph, Farrell, May, Ford, Care; M Vunipola, Hartley (capt), Cole, Launchbury, Itoje, Lawes, Robshaw, Hughes.

Replacements: George, Marler, Williams, G Kruis (Saracens), Underhill, Wigglesworth, B Te'o, J Nowell.

That was the best half of rugby Scotland have played against England that I can recall for forty years. Forget all that scrappy one fluky bounce try 1990 Braveheart bollix, that was a curiosity as have been most of the other narrow Scottish wins at Murrayfield since then. This is the real deal: flowing rugby, quality tries - hearty congratulations for a wonderful 40 minutes that the Englishman in me hated, and the rugby purist in me adored, even through gritted teeth and half closed eyes.

eirebilly wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:So the TMO has seen the eye gouge from the Scottish 8 but not brought it to the attention of the ref?

Brown and Watson have been incompetent.  England's pack is too cumbersome with three locks and a big number 8.

Eh? Hughes made contact with Wilson's eyes?

That's what I saw as well, not sure there was any intention but there looked contact.

Wilson's right hand makes a grabbing motion towards Hughes right eye socket. Doubt it's malicious but there's a duty of care so any contact with the eye area is an offence. We've seen one harsh ones before but if you watch the replay it's cut and dry.

SimonofSurrey wrote:That was the best half of rugby Scotland have played against England that I can recall for forty years. Forget all that scrappy one fluky bounce try 1990 Braveheart bollix, that was a curiosity as have been most of the other narrow Scottish wins at Murrayfield since then. This is the real deal: flowing rugby, quality tries - hearty congratulations for a wonderful 40 minutes that the Englishman in me hated, and the rugby purist in me adored, even through gritted teeth and half closed eyes.

England will concede 50 if they don't change things up at half time. Scotland are rampant.

We need to hit the second half running. The inconsistency in Scotland's performance is brutal. We need this next 40 mins to be the good side of the coin.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:So the TMO has seen the eye gouge from the Scottish 8 but not brought it to the attention of the ref?

Brown and Watson have been incompetent.  England's pack is too cumbersome with three locks and a big number 8.

Eh? Hughes made contact with Wilson's eyes?

That's what I saw as well, not sure there was any intention but there looked contact.

Wilson's right hand makes a grabbing motion towards Hughes right eye socket. Doubt it's malicious but there's a duty of care so any contact with the eye area is an offence. We've seen one harsh ones before but if you watch the replay it's cut and dry.

Didn't see that but if the case then maybe both players will be cited. Did not see any malice and both players were grand afterwards so maybe nothing at all in the end.

TJ wrote:Scotland are fit enough that tireing won't be too much of a problem.  Remember these players are used to playing at breakneck speed for 80 mins

.

My only concern is the bench - England have a lot more 'finishers' than we do.

Well the first half went well!

going to be a great second half. neither side was expecting to be in this situation.

First box kick, Scotland do exactly the same thing and Owens doesn't penalise it!

Hogg had to smash that away!

England's Rucking has been awful

What the hell did Hogg think he was doing there...

We'll see how good uncle Eddie is now.

Since when have you been able to pick the ball up when the ball isn't out of the ruck?

Superb line from Farrell, really exposed the Scottish defence but Hogg should have buried that kick down the field earlier.

game on

Heaf wrote:Since when have you been able to pick the ball up when the ball isn't out of the ruck?

you cant unless it is out behind the back foot. clear error by owens

Good from Hogg - we need to keep England in their own half

England's breakdown needs huge work.

That is very harsh on England there...

Care and Ford have to start imposing some territory on this game.

Regardless of the two play makers shtick and Farrell at 12 Englands half-backs have to stand up with their tactical kicking here.

Huge call from Owens but looks correct - Launchbury was off his feet.

Heart in mouth moment though!

Only called after the interception - bit suss ...

have to say that is a bit of a joke call

Heaf wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:How did Owens miss the neck roll in the breakdown before the tackle. Textbook offence.

I thought the same - TMO said nothing either ...

Do you think it’s a thing any more? It was when it was flavour of the month, but doesn’t seem to be pinged any more. I saw a blatant one in the Ireland game.

Now that try is what the game needed. Let's see how we go from here. England need exactly the same again.

The Scotland line out has badly malfunctioned once. Why the hell not kick for territory and see what happens.

errrr - Robshaw off his feet? Come off it! That should have been 22-20 - game changer!

And Barclay has been doing the same all game and getting penalties for it ...

Gaaaah Horne had to give it earlier!!!

Horne, what did you do there? 3 man overlap wasted.

Why is a walk in try not advantage over?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Huge call from Owens but looks correct - Launchbury was off his feet.

Heart in mouth moment though!

I think the frustration is that Owens wouldn't have given a penalty there if Care hadn't have intercepted. I'm not sure Care was onside.

quinsforever wrote:have to say that is a bit of a joke call

Come on he was in no way supporting his own body weight

Scottrf wrote:Why is a walk in try not advantage over?

Have to agree here, Scotland had won the advantage and really should have scored. Advantage over for me.

Neither has Barclay been for his turnovers ... it's inconsistent

Let's see if Underhill can impose himself on he breakdown, desperately needed.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

quinsforever wrote:have to say that is a bit of a joke call

Come on he was in no way supporting his own body weight

But Owens should have called advantage immediately, not wait until the interception for me.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

quinsforever wrote:have to say that is a bit of a joke call

Come on he was in no way supporting his own body weight

as long as his feet are on the ground and his hands aren't, that's the law. if scots bodies on top mean it looks like he's lying on them that is not launchbury's responsibility. AR got that one wrong.

That was a knock on!

Robshaw has once again shown the quality of someone who always plays well when those around him aren't.

quinsforever wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

quinsforever wrote:have to say that is a bit of a joke call

Come on he was in no way supporting his own body weight

as long as his feet are on the ground and his hands aren't, that's the law. if scots bodies on top mean it looks like he's lying on them that is not launchbury's responsibility. AR got that one wrong.

Whether that's the law or not that's not how it is referred in any game I've seen!

Now I'm just baffled: why does Robshaw keep being toid to leave it when he's competing for the ball on his feet. I'm genuinely lost. Willing to be educated - I'm not grousing just genuinely lost.

And England get another try scrubbed off. When it ain't your day, it ain't your day.

I think Scotland need to bring some reinforcements on

Coming back for the knock-on was fair but they should have also ruled out one of the Scottish tries for a neck-roll but didn't bother checking that one ...

this game far from over

England finally have a 7 of the pitch and get a turnover

Farrell went rather high on Swinson there, he seems to be getting rather frustrated.

there are some pretty marginal calls all going the wrong way from my perspective

We need to do more with the ball in England's half - these one out passes aren't getting us anywhere and we're not getting penalties

Underhill has been immense since coming on.

Offside at the ruck much?

Complete baffled by Owens' breakdown. Why are only Scotland allowed to compete? England are immediately told to stay out or it's lost.