JEREMY GUSCOTT
OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE... EVERY WEEK
ENGLAND will be disappointed with the result at Murrayfield and will look at the Scotland game as a missed opportunity. It was hugely pivotal in this season’s tournament, because if they had won it would have set them up to finish third, or possibly even second in the Six Nations, and that would have given them a real lift.
There are different ways of looking at any defeat, and one way is to look at the influence of Duhan van der Merwe’s second try, because it was a game-changing moment. It was a brilliantly taken individual try by the Scotland winger, but the reality is that it wouldn’t have happened without the George Furbank knock-on.
It happened because maybe the pass from George Ford was high, but Furbank will be asking himself if it was catchable.
There was also a massive gap in the England defensive blitz for the first Scotland try when Huw Jones had a clear run from Sione Tuipulotu’s pass because the England midfield had anticipated it being passed out the back rather than short. It was the wrong read by Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence, and Jones and Van der Merwe combined to punish them.
Van der Merwe’s hat-trick try also came from a bit of opportunism through Cameron Redpath’s break, although it was compounded by England’s failure to chop him down before he got into his stride.
Other than those three mistakes it was close, and England’s tries by Furbank and Immanual Feyi-Waboso were well made. So, although the big concern is that England are not attacking in bucketloads, or with any real shape, there are a number of areas to be pleased about.
Part of it is down to it being a new backline in which Tommy Freeman continues to play well – although you won’t get the best out of Lawrence until England use him in the same way Bath do.
In the end it is all about the quality of execution, and it’s in this area that there is a big gulf between Ireland and England, which could be exposed when they meet at Twickenham on Saturday.
When Ireland get in the opposition 22 they know exactly what they’re going to do, with their execution in their three victories over France, Italy and Wales absolutely ruthless, whereas England do not have anything like the same clarity.
When you’re in a team that suffers a loss like England did in Edinburgh you’re hacked off, but you have to move on. You also recognise that if you lower the error count there is a good chance you will start winning games.
Like most things in life, you often have to make mistakes to learn lessons – although in professional sport there also comes a time when mistakes have to be minimised if you want to be successful.
England’s error count against the Scots was far too high, but hopefully it won’t be repeated – and, if it is, any
