Gala’s Gregor Townsend marks 100th game as Scottish national rugby team’s head coach with sixth win in nine fixtures v England
Gregor Townsend oversaw his sixth win in nine games against England as the Scottish national rugby team’s head coach on Saturday, coming out on top at home at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium by 31-20.
The Borderer’s team bounced back from an 18-15 opening-round loss away to Italy in Rome seven days earlier to record a fifth victory in six matches against the English and reclaim the Calcutta Cup after losing it at London’s Twickenham Stadium a year ago, having been edged out 16-15 south of the border.
Outside-centre Huw Jones scored two tries for the hosts, captained by inside-centre Sione Tuipulotu, with blindside flanker Jamie Ritchie and scrum-half Ben White also touching down and fly-half Finn Russell adding three conversions and a penalty in front of a full house of 67,144.
Henry Arundell and Ben Earl scored tries for head coach Steve Borthwick’s visitors, with George Ford kicking conversions and penalties at the double.
That result, ending a run of seven defeats versus top ten-ranked opposition, leaves Scotland second to France in the championship table, on six points from two rounds, four shy of pole position but six better off than upcoming opponents Wales, beaten 54-12 hosting the French on Sunday.
They’re away to the Welsh this coming Saturday, with kick-off in Cardiff at 4.40pm, and they head south looking for a fourth win on the bounce against them.
The only fellow Borderer in Townsend’s 100th match-day squad since taking over as head coach in 2017, was Hawick’s Darcy Graham, named as a substitute for the second match running and brought on to take over from full-back Tom Jordan on 69 minutes to earn his 52nd cap since 2018, seven of them from the bench, yielding 34 tries, the most recent of them during an 85-0 autumn test win at home to the USA in November.
That followed a 31-minute shift in Italy a week earlier as a replacement for left-winger Jamie Dobie.
The Edinburgh right-winger is one of two Borderers in ex-Gala back Townsend’s 42-strong tournament squad, the other being fellow ex-Green Rory Sutherland.
The 46-times-capped loosehead prop, 33, hasn’t been selected for either of his country’s senior match-day squads to date this championship but was given a start for Scotland A’s 24-24 draw away to an Italian XV in Rieti in Lazio a week ago on Friday, with Alec Hepburn taking over on 41 minutes.
Looking ahead to going up against former Scotland defence coach Steve Tandy’s Welsh side this weekend, Townsend, 52, said: “There’s another game next week obviously and we’re on a seven-day turnaround. That is going to focus minds.
“It brings back so many good memories having the trophy in there but we now know we’ve got a job to do. There’s a championship to go for now.
“The only way we can go after this championship is if we win next week, and then we have a week off, so that’s a goal for us now.
“I’m just so pleased for the players. For them to play at that level against such a top team – the accuracy, the ambition, the bravery and then the colossal effort in the second half when guys were getting injured and players having to come on and the possession that England had – was great to see.”
Though the Welsh have lost both their Six Nations games so far by a combined margin of 83 points, having been beaten 48-7 away to England in round one prior to Sunday’s defeat by France, Townsend won’t be underestimating the challenge facing his visitors, saying: “Cardiff’s a really tough venue.
“I think the home venues are definitely something in the Six Nations you can use to your advantage. All the home teams won last week and having a home crowd gives you a huge advantage.
“We know Cardiff is one of the noisiest atmospheres. I really hope there are lots of Scots there.
“Last time we were there, it was one of our best performances. I think we had 45 minutes of error-free rugby almost. It was outstanding but it shows you that Wales can come back. They came back that day and at the end we got the control back. We know we’ll have to play well for 80 minutes.
“Wales, I think, in the second half against England showed a lot more of who they are. They’ve got some great individuals, an excellent coaching team, and they really went to England in that second half.”
The Scots’ remaining games after this weekend are at home to France on Saturday, March 7, and away to Ireland a week later, both with kick-offs at 2.10pm.