RugbyRebels

Banquo wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 3:01 pm

FKAS wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 2:51 pm

Banquo wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 2:22 pm

iirc it was you amongst others making that point....pretty strongly; I was quoting rather than making my own point. I'm interested what the actual objective view is now.

Yeah initially it looked like it was going to be a big change but there don't appear to be that many players capable of actually disrupting. Those that can are seemingly very effective though.

The likes of Dan Biggar (when he was a lad) would be even more effective in reclaiming kicks I guess, but then again, because of when he used to be great at this, he didn't have a wall of blockers in front.

Biggar was particularly brilliant at kicking for himself to chase, used to know just the weight needed for him to get there. As there was no box kick setup or 10 standing deep with his backs in a flat line outside him there wasn't much to telegraph the kick and get the opposition to form the wall of blockers either. Not that stopped him being gently harassed on the way through.

FKAS wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 7:54 am

Banquo wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 3:01 pm

FKAS wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 2:51 pm

Yeah initially it looked like it was going to be a big change but there don't appear to be that many players capable of actually disrupting. Those that can are seemingly very effective though.

The likes of Dan Biggar (when he was a lad) would be even more effective in reclaiming kicks I guess, but then again, because of when he used to be great at this, he didn't have a wall of blockers in front.

Biggar was particularly brilliant at kicking for himself to chase, used to know just the weight needed for him to get there. As there was no box kick setup or 10 standing deep with his backs in a flat line outside him there wasn't much to telegraph the kick and get the opposition to form the wall of blockers either. Not that stopped him being gently harassed on the way through.

Yus

Minute 31: The scrum collapses on the loosehead side on engagement but, rather than blowing up immediately, Brousset rather futilely tries to persuade Mitchell to use it, and ends up wasting more time before signalling the reset as he should've done in the first place. That is to say, we fail to scrum in this minute.

Minute 32: We only just get the scrum done in this minute - England have Scotland buckling, but it's very slow motion and TWillis decides it's safer to play the ball than to wait for the wheel of penalty decisions - Brousset isn't Berry, but it's still probably a good call. He then backs that up by carrying into White and making about 10m through contact, leaving us with a ruck outside the 22.

Minute 33: Mitchell clears our 22, but takes on the Scots approach of a contestible kick, with Freeman demonstrating how hard it is for the catchers by beating DVDM to the ball in the air. His tap back bounces kindly for Mitchell and we have ball against a backpedalling defence, about 35m. I have it paused here and I am going to make the prediction now that after the next tackle, we will slow it down, run a phase to reset and then box-kick.

[Presses Play]

Nope, it's worse. TWillis is shouting for the ball to carry into the Scots defence, but Mitchell makes the right call to pass wide behind him to FSmith and suddenly the pitch opens up in front of us. There are 6 English players on the left hand side of the pitch, versus 2 Scots, who are in no way in a defensive line, plus the winger frantically trying to get up from the back. If he runs this, it would be a blood-bath - we're not getting stopped before their 22, if at all.

Instead: Times we aimlessly kicked the ball back to Scotland: Slade x2, Sleightholme x1, Mitchell x3, FSmith x2

There have been worse kicks - it takes advantage of the winger coming up and targets the space behind him like Russell did, but it doesn't bounce into touch. It rolls into the Scots 22, where Kinghorn is first to it, and he has time to put his foot through it and send it back into England's 22. Mitchell fields and runs, but the Scots' kick chase is organised now, so he puts up a high ball that is too long for Freeman to compete for.

Rowe takes it in and sets the ruck and suddenly England are in trouble. Our poor forwards have been sent from a very strenuous scrum to running back and forwards across the length of the pitch for no apparent benefit and they've fucked up the defensive positioning. Now Scotland have a 5-on-3 in half the pitch, but crucially it is in their own half, so the polite and correct thing to do would be to kick it to our full-back, so that's what they do.

Hah, nah, just kidding, they attack it. Although thankfully for us, they attack it ineptly with two passes that fix nobody, allowing Mitchell to tackle DVDM with a nice tackle around his legs, which should be recorded and shown to Slade so that he knows how to finish a tackle for next time.

TCurry takes advantage of the lassoed VDM to smash him into touch, but the winger chucks a hugely hopeful offload back infield and it bounces at right angles into a Scots hand. We press up in defence however and Russell is forced into a kick which goes straight to MSmith who takes the mark. So I guess, in a roundabout way, they did end up doing the polite and correct thing. How very couth of them.

Minute 34: MSmith takes his time and then clears to touch, setting up a Scots lineout just inside their half. Scotland throw to the front and Itoje sacks the maul - it looks like decent play, but the ref pings him for making contact while the jumper is still in the air and replays show he's got that absolutely bang on - good spot ref. Scotland do try and play the ball away, but the defence is up hard and we catch Jones behind the gainline, so the ref comes back for the penalty.

Minute 35: Scotland now have the lineout just outside our 22, courtesy of the penalty and Scotland run a quick throw to catch England off guard. It's quickly into midfield, but our defence is imperious - Scotland are running some really nice, aggressive, fast lines off accurate passes, and we're getting into position and smashing them down. Then, as soon as the Scots lose the slightest bit of accuracy, we're pressing them backwards.

Minute 36: TCurry does exceptionally well, and shows off some skills that would make him first pick to be your teammate at Twister, to get out of the way when he's on the wrong side of the ruck (and also skews the bell curve for the next time I say someone "can't possibly get out of the way there"). Scotland attempt to swing it far left, but VDM gets well tackled, so they run through another couple of phases up the middle before trying to swing it out to the right wing. Kinghorn reckons he can take Lawrence on the outside, but he's wrong - Lawrence hunts him down and the ensuing ruck sees White knock-on at the base under pressure (good work from Lawrence bouncing up and counter-rucking).

A word for Slade there, who I have been very critical of - he could very easily have not trusted Lawrence and stepped in on Kinghorn, but he either judged the defensive spacing perfectly or he gambled and got very lucky. Since I've been heckling him so far, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and call it good judgement.

TWillis is off - the commentary team watch a replay of him doing a double-tackle where Genge's momentum swings him around and nuts Willis in the side of the head before saying, "I think he's injured his... shoulder?" Not surprised that he failed the HIA after that. BCurry on.

Minute 37: Scotland get folded at the scrum again, but the ball is at the back so the ref says play away. We pass into midfield and threaten to run to keep VDM up and allow MSmith to put in a lovely kick over his head. It's perfectly placed and, in a just world, would bounce neatly into touch, but the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you and it veers away from touch to go to Kinghorn.

Freeman and Lawrence then screw up their communication. Kinghorn has the ball and DVDM is getting into position on his left - Freeman is our first chaser, but also our widest defender, so if he follows the ball and tackles Kinghorn, then VDM is free down the wing, so he visibly signals to Lawrence (who is chasing up on his inside) to go behind him and get out to the wing. Unfortunately, Lawrence either doesn't see the signal or doesn't understand it and, frankly, I can't blame him - this is a 2-on-2 and it's much more traditional for the winger to press out to the winger and the inside man to press out onto the ball carrier. It's a very weird request to ask the inside man to cross over underneath in defence. Unfortunately, this means both Freeman and Lawrence mark Kinghorn and a simple pass does put VDM away.

BCurry does very well to get there to tackle, but once again it's the offload and Scotland are away (especially since Mitchell and Freeman don't trust BCurry and have swarmed VDM). JOrdan draws MSmith, but Slade does very well chasing back to haul down Huw Jones and stop another try.

It's quick Scots ball on the edge of the 22, but thankfully our defence is quick into position - it's mostly forwards, but so is the Scots' attack at this point. We chop down two phases and move them backwards 8m (with BCurry being denied what looked a decent jackal, but also doing a top job of listening to the ref's communication).

Scotland have got their backline organised now and it's a mismatch between Genge and Jordan in space to create a break on the outside.

Minute 38: Sleightholme does well not to commit in defence and buys time to defend two players in the 3-on-2 - we lose ground, but FSmith is left 1-on-1 with Cherry down the wing and cuts him down nicely.

BCurry gets over the ball and, to me, looks like he's clearly not supporting his own bodyweight - it's the same problem as Earl had earlier, with the tackled player rolling into him and knocking him onto his hands, but something about it hits the referee right this time and he's allowed to pinch the ball.

FSmith considers a box-kick, but Mitchell comes lolloping tiredly across, so we set another phase to give him a new 5 second count and he clears for touch. Not his best though - he hooks it to be certain of touch and the lineout is within the 22.

Minute 39: Replay of the BCurry turnover and it's actually funny how illegal he is - he's on his knuckles for the majority of the time and only actually gets his hands on the ball right at the very end. I'd be screaming if I were Scottish.

Still, they do still have an attacking lineout and frankly they'd probably have done that with a penalty anyway, so they've only lost about 10m from it.

Scotland throw long to the back and set a maul - it looks like they've got a bit of early movement and England aren't behind it properly, but we've actually attacked the ball hard and that's slowed the drive until the tight 5 get around. LCD and Maro are swinging around the side, Chessum is chucking octopus arms over the top and somewhere, somehow, TCurry has managed to work his way underneath the Scotland supporters to grapple the ball-carrier. There's a brief attempt to get him off or get the ball past him, but the maul collapses and it's an England scrum.

Minute 40: Takes an age to set the scrum, but we just get it done in the minute. Worth doing though - Genge drives through Fagerson who folds in and Stuart takes the instability as an opportunity to drive Schoeman so far backwards that they leave the scrum and disappear off the side of the screen.

Minute 41: Commentary keep up their sterling record so far as Ben Kay says, "England will just tap and kick this to get back into the sheds". FSmith then kicks for touch.

Replays of the scrum - marks to Earl for control at the back, even with the scrum jerking forwards and being highly unstable.

The lineout is just within our half, which should surely mean !box-kick time! but instead we decide we're allowed a little attack, as a treat. I can't blame Scotland for being taken aback - instead of passing the ball to a forward running hard so we can set up a good box-kicking ruck, we pass it to our fly-half (?!) who then passes it to our outside centre (?!?!).

Lawrence isn't doing anything too special here, but Russell puts in a passive tackle and it barely even knocks Lawrence off his stride. MSmith is racing up on his shoulder and Lawrence puts in a nice offload before tackle for Marcus to accelerate past him.

MSmith is through, but he's surrounded by Scots and there's no passing options - BCurry is calling for a grubber through which could've been a try, but it's not guaranteed, so Smith does the right thing in holding onto the ball and eating up as much space as he can. He's caught just on the Scots 5m line and BCurry absolutely obliterates the Scottish attempt at a jackal. Unfortunately Mitchell gets knocked by the ruck being exploded and loses his footing, slowing the ball by a second, but it's still surely a guaranteed try?

Minute 42: Mitchell flings a long cut-out pass to Slade, but unfortunately Lawrence thinks it's for him and just reels it in and beats Jordan with a nice step. The reach for the ball causes him to be off-balance and he's stumbling forwards as he goes towards the line - the smart play here is to hold onto the godsdamned ball and take another phase, but Lawrence sees Sleightholme is unmarked outside him and goes for glory. It's a very low percentage pass anyway, but the adrenaline and the momentum from falling lead him to fling it high above the winger's head and into the stands.

I believe my live reaction was to bellow, "OH YOU STUPID PRICK!" at the television and, frankly, I'm not that much more restrained in the cold light of day. That was pretty much a guaranteed try within 3 phases at most and he fucked it up on trying a miracle pass. Forget Finn Russell's kick costing them the game, I don't know I'd've forgiven Lawrence had we lost this one.

In fairness to him, he's immediately aware of his idiocy and is openly furious with himself.

Replays show that the grubber to BCurry was a very low percentage, as it would've been a footrace between him and White, so MSmith definitely made the right decision to hold onto the ball.

That's halftime and we'll get some more probably next week.

Great work so far.

Can't understand the grief which MSmith got for 'not passing', there was no decent option on and he did entirely the right thing.

Crash Hamster wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 5:50 pm Great work so far.

Can't understand the grief which MSmith got for 'not passing', there was no decent option on and he did entirely the right thing.

In the moment it did look like he was running away from his support. Once the slightly wider shot was shown on the replay it became obvious that the Scottish defence did a good job shutting off his passing options as they chased him down.

The Scotland maul before half time just collapsed on its own? Remember thinking that seemed questionable but didn’t see it back.

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 7:39 pm The Scotland maul before half time just collapsed on its own? Remember thinking that seemed questionable but didn’t see it back.

I didn't see anything particularly egregious - won't rule out it could've been helped downwards by an England hand, but it was stationary, tangled up, and looked like the ball carrier sought the deck in an attempt to get out of TCurry's grasp and didn't quite manage the last part.

Puja

Crash Hamster wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 5:50 pm Great work so far.

Can't understand the grief which MSmith got for 'not passing', there was no decent option on and he did entirely the right thing.

Bang on. As Lawrence learned, sometimes the absolute best move is to hold onto the ball and trust that your team can finish the score next phase.

Puja

Minute 41: Second half and let's see what we learned from our talking to by the coaches. Scotland kick off deep and we're already doing something different - instead of Earl coming to collect and carry for a caterpillar-and-box-kick, Mitchell takes the catch and leathers it into touch. Good kick as well - very nearly up to halfway.

Scotland go to the front and off the top and again something different - we flood through the line to pressure the pass. Doesn't change much, but our defence is up quickly to make the tackle and again next phase.

Minute 42: Scotland keep going same way and attempt to exploit that we have two front row who have folded around onto the blind side, but Slade organises well and we give up a few metres rather than any linebreak, putting Scotland back level with where the lineout was. What follows is about 30s of Scotland mixing up one out runners to be fed into double-tackles, and some nice fancy backline handling and running lines that stretch our wide defence without ever looking like breaking it. The play doesn't move more than 2-3m either side of the halfway line, so White decides to change tack, slow things down, and put the ball in the air.

The kick is shorter than he'd probably like, but it works out well because Sleightholme has badly misjudged it and Scotland get a free catch (which they actually fumble and it looooooks forward, but Brousset's on the spot so ref's call). Scotland spin it wide quickly and we do a very good job of adapting - in midfield, Slade and Earl both visibly make the first step to sprint up and blitz, but both temper their instincts and are proven right when the Scots attack commits now defenders and our drift gives them an underlap by the time it hits Freeman's wing. Said numbers allow Slade to launch himself into a counter-ruck and, while I'm not exactly sure he's supporting his body weight, it panics the Scots enough that they handle the ball on the floor to concede the penalty.

Minute 43: Only two minutes into the second half and I've already had three good things to say about Slade! It doesn't last, as his kick to touch is deeply underwhelming - we'd hope to be deep in the Scots half, but instead we've not crossed their 10m line. Always disheartening to see the touch judge realise that they've massively overestimated where the ball is going and have to break into a job to get to where the mark is.

Good lineout drill as we put TCurry up in the middle, and it's straight down and out to FSmith in midfield. He puts a nice pass to Earl running flat who promptly steamrollers Russell. Lawrence and Slade bind on like we're driving for the line and it powers Earl through another tackle, taking us a good solid 5-6 metres post-contact.

Quick ball and Genge does flirt with a counter by trying a bit of footwork rather than running hard as his support are expecting, but he gets past the defender and a metre forward with quick ball, so we will forgive him.

Minute 44: We've got forward runners a-go-go, with all three back row and LCD running lines with their hands upraised. Mitchell picks out third man TCurry with a long pass, fixing a bunch of defender who were watching Earl inside him. TCurry then keeps them interested by running hard to the line, ball in two hands, with LCD on his shoulder before pulling back late to FSmith on the wrap around. FSmith pumps the ball and runs, before delivering a late pass to Slade, and he goes straight through the gap that Fin has opened for him. A despairing Jones tackle just drags him down, and Slade tries a backdoor offload to Lawrence, but unfortunately it's too low and behind him and Lawrence can only knock it on.

I watched that originally thinking I was going to castigate Slade for trying to throw a miracle pass of the kind that I complained at Lawrence about at the end of the half, but I think I will give him a pass on that - if that ball goes to hand, Lawrence is through and I don't fancy Russell's chances of stopping. The execution was shit, but I think, 25 metres out, that's a gamble worth taking.

Our best bit of attacking play of the game so far and unlucky not to score from it.

Replays show a different angle - it was still a shit pass from Slade, but Lawrence will be annoyed he didn't take it.

Minute 45: Genge gives away a free-kick trying to anticipate the "Set" call at the scrum and engaging too early. I understand it, but that's the kind of error I forgive 23 year old, 1 start Fin Baxter for, rather than 30 year old with 45 starts.

A note on the ITV footage, which has been sub-par. Apparently the director is their usual football man rather than a specialist and it's showing - the penalty that Slade won at the ruck was followed by a closeup of BCurry (who was present, but not the main man), and we've now had a scrum pen that was absolutely Genge, where we're treating to a lingering look at Will Stuart.

Being a free-kick, Scotland belt it long and MSmith takes on the 22. He runs it back and has a look at his options, but the Scots kick chase is good and there's not much on, so he picks a gap between two forwards and runs hard to set up a ruck just shy of the halfway. It's quick ball, but we've got a set play - ball back to FSmith and it goes up in the air for Freeman to chase... wait that's Slade chasing? Why are we doing this if Freeman's not the one on the wing?

It's not a perfect kick - goes too short and, as DVDM tries to flap it back, it hits Slade on the way through. We gather the loose ball, but the ref calls a knock-on.

Times we aimlessly kicked the ball back to Scotland: Slade x2, Sleightholme x1, Mitchell x3, FSmith x3

An argument could be made that this is harsh, as we nearly won the ball back, but that argument will get pointed to the fact that we didn't and nearly gets you nothing.

George is on for LCD and Sleightholme is getting the shepherd's crook for Daly. LCD's been unfairly criticised from this game - he put himself about a lot in defence and worked very hard in the loose. Sleightholme's also been unfairly criticised - he hasn't been great under the high ball and he made it onto the aimless kick counter with an egregious example, but blaming him for Jones's try is incorrect and it's definitely not been the kind of performance where we chuck him out and give up on him entirely, as some have suggested.

I agree on Sleightholme not being permanently binned, but it wasn't a terrific 41 minutes in the scheme of things. I still have him as 15.245% to blame for Jones's try

Minute 46: Scotland get the ball in and out of the scrum quickly, with White passing wide to Russell. It goes down the line to Kinghorn with decent passing, but realistically not doing much to a set defence, so he has to step back inside and seek contact closer to the forwards. Lawrence has a look at a jackal, but Scotland clear well and go back towards where the scrum was, to see if England were paying attention. We *mostly* were - the forwards haven't drifted inside and, while DVDM does make a mini-break down the outside, he's well boxed-in by Earl and Chessum and Freeman completes the tackle.

Worth noting that Scotland have made a good 25 metres just from keeping the ball in hand and running with it, even though they started within their own half. Wild.

The next three phases don't go anywhere much - England knock them back a little, Scotland recover some ground through a weaker tackle from Lawrence. BCurry does a good job twice in abandoning the jackal when he's told to leave it - both looked valid to me, but you have to listen to the ref.

Phase 4 sees us stretched - we're left with Will Stuart stuck defending at 13 (and he's also blocked by Gilchrist ahead of the ball as well), leaving room for Russell to break. We scramble well, but Scotland make it into the 22 and have momentum.

Minute 47: Itoje goes upright on Fagerson and I'm initially annoyed at him for conceding ground, but less so when he rips the ball away. Scotland attempt to beat BCurry to diving on the loose ball but can only do it by knocking on and England will be pleased to have the scrum.

TCurry's day is done - the limp makes everyone worry, but it's just a dead leg. Cunningham-South is on in his place.

It takes a long time to set the scrum, but time is off, so it's still the same minute. Mitchell's put-in is comedically skewed, but it's irrelevant anyway as Schoemann is called by the touch judge for being boring boring in on Stuart. Stuart's had a great game, but he's looking like the tank is empty right now - Schoemann probably is boring, but even with that, he's driven right through him in a way that wouldn't've happened first half.

Minute 48: Slade kicks the penalty for touch and makes good ground with this one - we're back just inside our own half again, in the frightful Zone of Box-Kicking.

Replay shows the other side of the scrum and I owe Stuart an apology - Schoemann isn't even attempting to scrummage straight there and is practically at right angles when he attacks.

Chessum fakes to jump, then actually does jump, and the timing on the throw gets him clean ball. It's down to Mitchell and we send Genge on a crash through the midfield again. Darge tackles and is more than a little bit lucky that the TMO doesn't look at that, cause it looked like a straight-forward yellow for head-on-head.

Minute 49: We've achieved forward momentum, we've got quick ball, we're... just inside our half, so we're forbidden to have the ball. What time is it? It's Box Kick O'clock!

Times we aimlessly kicked the ball back to Scotland: Slade x2, Sleightholme x1, Mitchell x4, FSmith x3

It's too long for Freeman to compete, but he tackles DVDM and drives him back into the 22, whereupon Scotland promptly secure the ball and set up for their own kick. It's not White's best kick and finds touch on their 10m line. I suppose England would argue that this one was a legitimate good tactical kick, as it's gained us about 13m and a quasi-attacking set piece and, to a certain extent, they'd be right, but it's just so ambitionless to refuse to play with the ball except in certain situations. If we have intentions of being top of the rankings (and we should at least have ambitions of that), we shouldn't be offering a dead bat to everything in a home game against Scotland - we should be confident in our ability to handle the ball and try to be dominant*. We won't lose by very much doing this, but we also won't win by very much either and a close game will always be to Scotland's liking because they *believe* with a very great fervour.

*before I get accusations of "English arrogance", that's not saying that we ought to always be dominant, but that we shouldn't be playing in a timid fashion that rules it out. Scotland aren't New Zealand! We shouldn't be running scared of them!

Minute 50: We find Chessum in the middle again and form a maul - Cunningham-South is supposed to be unexpectedly breaking off the back, but fails to rip the ball out on his first attempt, which gives the game away. He thinks about the pass, but goes himself and makes a good couple of metres. We go again with Genge on next phase, but unfortunately Earl and BCurry do too good a job of clearing out the same jackaller, leaving the ball exposed. Mitchell should get there first, but the tackler rolls (probably unintentionally) under his feet and it slows him enough for Ritchie to get hands on ball and Mitchell gives away the penalty by going off his feet in the ensuing wrestle. It would've been a harsh penalty to give against Scotland for rolling into the 9's path, but it's like the not-releasing one in the first half - Scotland's actions were technically illegal and resulted in a turnover, but this time they get to keep the reward.

However, practically speaking, that's the flankers' fault for not communicating better - it shouldn't've been a case of Mitchell needing to swoop in to secure the ball as one of them should've stayed to secure it.

Scotland kick the penalty down to about 30m out from the England line.

Minute 51: Scotland sucker England with a smart lineout. They dummy unconvincingly at the front and the jumper peels off towards the back of the lineout - while England watch the moving figure to see where he's going to rejoin the line for his jump, the hooker throws to one of the "lifters" who catches without leaving the ground and feeds White.

The first phase is Dempsey getting chopped down by George and it looks like the next is going to be Fagerson carrying into traffic, but instead White passes across the face to allow Jordan to run onto the ball and attack the midfield. Unfortunately the midfield in this case is FSmith who has a fair sturdy answer to someone running straight at him and drives him back from whence he came with some beautiful technique. BCurry then shows excellent technique by joining the tackle high, helping FSmith drop him to the ground, but releasing as he goes so he can be straight onto the ball. Earl is there almost as quickly and it's a toss-up who wins the penalty. Turnover and a real momentum shift.

FSmith then finishes up the moment by kicking the penalty deep into Scotland's half.

Minute 52: Lineout 33 metres out and George shows off his darts with a lovely throw over the top to Lawrence. Unfortunately, Lawrence has the timing of his run just wrong and has to slow to take it - if he runs full tilt onto that, it'd be a hell of an ask for Russell to stop him, especially with his turnstile impersonation today. As it is, it's a lot easier to tackle a stationary man, and we end with slow ball that we're lucky not to lose.

Genge takes the ball at first receiver and gets his first count for thinking he's a back - if he runs straight, then he's either making a dent or offloading for CCS to go through, but instead he does a little Alex-Goode-dance, throwing the timing of CCS's run off. The offload now has to be so flat it's practically forward and CCS fails to catch it on his way through. Wasted possession.

Scotland pick up the loose ball and Russell belts it downfield, but that would go on a Scotland counter if I had one - right down the centre and straight into Daly's arms with acres to run into. What Sleightholme would've given to have had an attacking position like that! Daly does a decent unspectacular job - beats one defender and returns it up to the Scots 10m line where we recycle quickly. Unfortunately, Stuart carries up into two Scots defenders and, while he does make ground, the Scots are slow to roll away and our supporting players also get trapped in, resulting in inexorably slow ball (and the fun sight of Mitchell picking up Chessum by his lapels to move him out of the way of the ball). Ruck speed of 15 seconds and then, to make it worse, Mitchell spills it backwards (possibly helped by an errant Scots hand - can't see).

Earl does a belting job of cleaning up the ball and running nimbly to get around defenders and get back up to the gainline, which gets us better ball again.

Minute 53: I was fully expecting a box-kick here, but Mitchell passes it away quickly so maybe... ah, spoke too soon. FSmith kicks it instead. I was intending to make a quip about Mitchell and FSmith competing to top the aimless kicking counter, but this one is actually a genuinely attacking kick - a cross-field garryowen that hangs on top of Kinghorn outside the 22 and allows Freeman to run onto it. Kinghorn does enough to knock it backwards and VDM picks it up, but he's met by BCurry and Slade in good driving positions, who march him back 12 metres before he finally manages to get to the floor. We drive over and Dempsey does well to just recover the ball and carry it away, but he's tackled by George and then isolated so we turn the ball over there instead.

Scotland slow the ball by diving over the turnover and then put in a good tackle on BCurry next phase to catch him behind the gainline. However, Chessum and Earl clear out well and it's quick ball - FSmith is clapping for it and there are good options, but unfortunately he chooses the wrong one. A short ball to Slade running a hard line looks like there's a hole, but the gap closes quickly and he is tackled on the gainline - if he had chosen the wider pass behind to MSmith arcing around, then Marcus has got a footrace against the cover defence to see if he can beat them to the edge and, if he does, he and Daly have a 2-on-1 against Rowe. Missed opportunity there.

As it is, the double-tackle on Slade sees the ball ripped free and Kinghorn kicks long into the space behind Daly and it bounces into touch just outside of our 22.

Minute 54: Scotland's turn to give away a stupid penalty - they get excited at having read where Chessum is jumping and react to him still beating them to the ball by grabbing his arm in the air. FSmith kicks us down to Scotland's 10m line.

Minute 55: Once again, it's Chessum in the middle through a pinpoint George throw. The ball is tapped down to Mitchell and flung into midfield. Lawrence runs a hard line off FSmith and looks like he's going crash ball, but a nice delicate last-minute offload sees Earl going through the gap he's just created. Jordan gets there to tackle, but Earl breaks out of it and does a very good job of reaccelerating to make another 5 metres and draw in another two defenders. The tackler then doesn't roll away to slow the ball and Mitchell makes very sure to overact how awful the imposition is on his service for the benefit of the referee, so we are now playing with advantage. DVDM comes blitzing up to hit Slade and cut the move off, but FSmith puts in a beautiful cut-out pass that will bypass half the defence and lead to a MSmith-Freeman 2-on-1. Sadly VDM sees the pass and switches tack to interception, getting a fingertip to knock the pass down - not deliberate enough for a penalty, but it kills the opportunity and we come back for the not rolling away penalty.

Itoje has a brief think and chat with Genge, then opts for the posts. Right call, you'd say - it's bang in front, gets us level and, while it's tempting to go for touch and try and press our momentum, we've not been accurate enough today that it's worthwhile losing 3 points and giving away a massive momentum swing if we go for broke and don't score.

Minute 56: MSmith pots the easy penalty and we're all square.

Minute 57: Scotland compete hard at the kick-off, but Itoje and his lifting pod secure it just outside the 22 and Mitchell takes his time over the box-kick. He's cocked it up though - it drifts over the touchline and Daly's best efforts aren't enough to tap it back inside. To add insult to injury, his looooong caterpillar means the lineout's about 3m further back than when the catch was taken!

Minute 58: Scotland take uncontested front ball and England look to spoil the maul, but it's a dummy and the ball is played away. Scotland play wide with some nice passing and dummy moves, but it's all very passive and a distance from the English defence, so we drift over without anyone being committed. Rowe then decides Slade is someone to take lessons from and KADABs - it looks like it's going to go over the goalline, but Daly decides to play it instead of trusting to the bounce. He does well enough to get 4m from the tryline, but it's still a fraught position and even a forward rumble doesn't really make the position better - I suspect Mitchell would've preferred the goalline drop-out. He does find touch with his box-kick though and it's a Scotland lineout pretty much identical to last minute's, just across the other side of the pitch.

Baxter is on for Genge.

Scotland win the lineout at the back and a peel sees MFagerson bumping George to get the other side of the 22.

Minute 59: What an absolute clusterfuck from Ollie Lawrence in defence. Scotland have quick ball - Ritchie takes at first receiver and runs at the defence with Jones offering the short option and Russell the pull-back. It's a hard defensive read as he's got two options to choose from and Lawrence decides to make it really simple by choosing option C - cut inside and tackle Ritchie so that neither option is covered.

What the actual fuck Ollie? What the fuck.

I cannot stress how poor a decision this is. He changes direction in the middle of a drift to step inside and tackle someone who could not be less his responsibility if he was playing on the other pitch. Lawrence has to literally barge FSmith, the inside man who was already about to tackle Ritchie, out of the way so he can make a completely pointless tackle on someone who has already passed the ball by the time contact is made. I would forgive him buying a dummy, but there is no subterfuge or subtlety or any kind of trickery that would suggest that Lawrence's best move is to completely abandon his channel and smash an already tackled man.

Anyway, the ball is pulled back to Finn Russell, who actually takes a moment to wonder whether the gaping hole in front of him is some kind of trap as there's no way it could just be sheer stupidity. Slade doesn't react fast enough to step in, but it's hard to blame him as there are men outside and it must've been hard to've even considered the possibility that Lawrence would do that, so Russell walks through the hole.

Slade manages to dive and snag a shoelace, tripping Russell just as he's planning his swandive and there's a ruck. White goes to a forward runner, rather than spreading it wide, and we are saved, as two forward phases running into our fringe defence is what we need to get some semblance of defensive organisation. Scotland's attack is then more and more comfortably dealt with, with the gainline pushing further back and BCurry and Earl threatening turnovers. By the end of the minute, Scotland have gone through 8 phases and moved from 3 metres out to the edge of the 22.

Minute 60: Lawrence puts in a decent tackle (although he does fucking owe us) and, while Kinghorn takes an offload, Daly has pressed up and Scotland are now outside of the 22. Itoje sees a jackal opportunity, but Russell dives down at his feet to seal off like there's a £50 prize for the speediest downward dog. Russell's surprise boot inspection knocks Itoje's feet away, but he reacts by straddling Russell and going for the ball anyway. This is definitely a penalty offence one way or the other - Itoje has his feet in the air when he lifts the ball and so 100% cannot be supporting his own bodyweight, but the reason he's doing that is because Russell's sealed off - but the referee chooses option C of "Play on, fair steal" and England get the ball back. In fairness to the ref, on his side of the ruck, Itoje has a foot on the floor, but the touch judge has to help him there. Russell stands up to complain and Itoje gets flipped on his head, but he takes the ball with him and we form a caterpillar for Mitchell to clear to touch.

Replays show I'm being harsh on Russell - he is off his feet, but there's worse at most breakdowns. It's definitely a Scots penalty if you're forgiving him. He's whining to the ref like that's going to change anything, like a footballer, so fuck him - no benefit of the doubt.

Scotland lineout just past the English 10m line and they try to go over the top - Ashman's throw is far too short though and Jordan ends up having to try and claim on the bounce. He's nearly there, but also so is FSmith, and the pressure of trying to stop the intercept leads to Jordan knocking on.

The ball bounces kindly for Earl who makes good ground and provides quick ball and then, instead of stting up the box-kick (and the England forwards entering the ruck are already halfway prepping the caterpillar, Mitchell passes! Inside our own half!

FSmith does kick the ball, so not all normalcy is lost, but instead of belting it in the air, it's a carry to the line and a gorgeous little dinked grubber kick through that Slade can run onto. The bounce of a rugby ball always hates you and it won't sit up for Slade to keep running, so he slides to take it and then back to his feet to wrestle with the Scots covering defence. Freeman drives over him and we have good quick ball on the right hand touchline.

Just a thank-you to @puja for these MbMs! Appreciated!

Minute 61: Mitchell plays the ball quickly and George lets the defence come onto him before pulling it back late to MSmith. He puts it through his hands nicely to send Earl through a half-gap and, while he's tackled, it's another dislocation of the Scots defence and quick ball.

MSmith is at first receiver again and feeds Chessum who makes a dominant carry into Jones. It's a slow ruck as Ashman drives through and interferes with Mitchell's pickup, but the ref lets him away with it. We keep attacking though and Stuart does a good job with a pull-back to give room for the backs to run. Freeman carries through two defenders and we've got good momentum, but it's ruined in a second as Earl dives straight off his feet at the ruck and gives away a really obvious penalty.

Minute 62: Russell kicks the penalty just past halfway and it's a Scotland lineout. Randall sneaks on for Mitchell before the time restarts.

It's not a classic Scottish lineout, as ther is confusion about the call and some faffing, but they get the ball and send MFagerson on a crash ball, where he gets sat down by a George/Baxter double-act. Next phase is a cross-field garryowen which is sliced and nowhere near as deep as Russell wanted. Kinghorn and MSmith get under it and this one I will blame Marcus for - he's coming forward onto the ball and needs to get higher and own that one, but Kinghorn outjumps him and taps it back, where it fortuitously rolls straight into touch.

Minute 63: England lineout opposite where the Scots one was. Once more, England get Scotland to watch Chessum and then lift Itoje after the dummy suckers them - clean ball at the back and out into midfield. Fin kicks his own cross-field garryowen and this one is better than Finn's - Freeman gets under it and is unlucky that Kinghorn does such a good job in securing it. I'm not adding this one onto the counter, as there were no holes in the Scots defence and it's another genuinely contestable attacking kick.

Scotland secure the ball and then go backwards through two phases of one-out runners before White puts up his own high ball from the base of the caterpillar. His is not contestable - Freeman catches unopposed and has time to pass inside to FSmith before he's tackled. FSmith sees space and wangs it long to Daly who is attacking the edge of the Scots defence. He offloads out of the tackle to Chessum, showing good speed and workrate to loop round, and he drives through the tackle to get over the halfway line. Randall shows off some lovely service, but its the Scots' turn to blitz and Baxter is caught behind the gainline. Still quick ball though and it's out to FSmith through more good speedy Randall passing.

Minute 64: Fin feeds Marcus, who thinks he sees a gap and so dummies to Freeman instead of passing - unfortunately he's wrong and nearly gets held up in a double-tackle instead. We manage to get him to ground, but that uses up our supporters, so Ritchie reaches over the ruck (brushing off an uncharacteristically limp clearout from Itoje) to win the jackal penalty.

Thankfully Russell screws up the touch kick and it stays infield, bouncing into our in-goal area. Slade collects, runs it up to about 10m out, sets himself... and then hooks the kick so it only just clears the 22. Poor

Thankfully, there's a TMO call - can't blame the ref for not spotting this one himself, cause I didn't and I knew it was coming. Rowe's tackle on Chessum last minute was upright and resulted in a clash of heads - frankly it's more Rowe 100% not fancying trying to deal with a rampaging Chessum, trying to back off, and then being forced into contact by Chessum stepping into him, rather than an actively dangerous tackle, so it's definitely not a card, but it is a clear penalty and the reffing team come to the right decision. It's an odd situation though - the new TMO guidance says that they can come back for an offence that happened in the run of play before a penalty that's kicked for touch, as long as the TMO comes in before the lineout is formed. Ordinarily, that seems normal, but it's complicated by Russell missing touch - does Slade's carry and kick into touch mean that it's the same result as Russell kicking to touch and he can interject before the lineout forms? What would've happened if Slade hadn't found touch? Or if we'd counter-attacked, thrown an intercept and Scotland had scored? Very fuzzy lines.

Itoje is genuinely clearly baffled about when and where the offence even occurred and is quite pleasantly surprised to go right the way down the pitch to nearly the Scots 10m line.

Minute 65: FSmith puts in a good touch-finder to land it 10m out from the Scots line. Pressured lineout and we nearly screw it up with a slip on the back lifter for Itoje, but he does incredibly well to stretch up with one hand and take the ball in. Sexy technique there. We then get given a pen advantage as Scotland attempt to countermaul too early and make contact while he's still in the air.

We set the maul anyway and it's a good rolling effort, spilling Scots out the back while slowly rumbling forwards. The ref calls use it as we stall 4m out, and we once again reach for the same move as we used against France - Lawrence running at first receiver, Slade coming hard, pull-back to FSmith, and feed Daly on the wrap around. The difference this time is that the Scots inside defence do not bite on Lawrence or Slade's hard line - they bounce off and drift, meaning that the centre isn't torn between staying on FSmith or pressing out to MSmith, but has friends on his inside so the hole doesn't open. Daly's running with pace though, so Fin makes the pass and he is dominant in contact to make it back up to the gainline. Quick ball and Randall screws up - it needs to go the same way again, to stretch the Scots defence and make them go from one side to another. The pass has to be to the right, either to FSmith if there's a gap, or to CCS if we need to make one, but Randall bets that Scotland are automatically folding around to the wide and will be slow to react if he snipes back the other way.

Minute 66: Unfortunately McDowell is back on his feet (dubiously onside?) and blocking the space that Randall saw and so he jinks sideways and feeds Itoje into the woodchipper for lack of better options. Itoje does stand strong and Scotland give away another penalty for not rolling.

Randall does go right now, but it's too late as Scotland have now had time to set. It's nice play, as BCurry pulls back to FSmith, but he chooses Slade's crash ball instead of MSmith out wide and it looks like it was very much the wrong option. Slade makes the gainline and it's quickish ball, but we then fall into sending forwards in as one-out runners for the next two phases and get punished when Ashman puts in a belting low tackle that knocks Itoje backwards. Scotland are of the opinion that, as there's already double-advantage, they may as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb and have hands all over the ball, and Randall struggles to get it out, meaning all of the backs have to abort their runs. When it does come out, Daly is stationary and, while he tries to jink his way through, he is picked up and dumped and his desperate offload hits the deck, so we're back for our choice of penalties. Scotland get a warning from the referee (which is frankly, overdue) and Itoje has a bit of a discussion before opting for the 3 points under the posts.

Difficult choice that one. Taking the 3 is the safe option and it secures us the lead, which is not to be sniffed at. However, we could have had our choice of a 5m lineout, or a scrum under the posts 5m out, or a tap penalty under the posts 5m out, with Scotland already creaking and on a warning. Three points gets us the lead, but it's a fragile one that Scotland will fancy winning back - scoring a try wouldn't end the game, but it'd be a huge knock to their confidence and might be enough that we could start imposing ourselves on the game. I think if we're playing sides similar in quality like Argentina or Australia, we're going for the try there, but Scotland having won the last four has got in our head and we are too worried about them beating us to act superior, which is an impediment to actually being superior. Hopefully the fact that we ended up getting the win will've knocked some of that inferiority complex out of us.

Plus, I say all of that, but if Itoje goes for the scrum and Scotland get a fortuitous penalty, then all us Hindsight Geniuses will be screaming at him for not taking the guaranteed 3.

Minute 67: MSmith takes his time and pots the 3 to put England in front for the first time in a while.

Scotland kick off and pick out Earl on the edge of the 22.

Minute 68: Earl drops his head and drives through a tackle, making a few metres with some help from George. The caterpillar is set and we get our first look at a Randall box-kick since the embarrassment against Ireland. Hopefully he's been practicing... oh dear. It's badly mishit and goes about 6-7m forwards. Thankfully, the Scots are confused while Daly's seen this kind of thing before, so he takes the ball uncontested and goes on a bit of a run. He beats about 4 players and makes about 10 metres forwards while going 20 metres sideways, and then offloads to George, presumably with the idea that he's running a switch. George had no clue that he was due to be involved and does quite well to react to the sudden ball - running back inside and driving up to the 10m line.

We've just gone solidly forward, we've got quick ball, and we've been in charge, but we're also on the edge of our own 10m line so heavens forfend that we do anything but kick the ball away. This is prime box-kicking territory, but Randall's understandably not thrilled about trying again, so he passes back so that FSmith goes on the aimless kicking counter instead of him.

Times we aimlessly kicked the ball back to Scotland: Slade x2, Sleightholme x1, Mitchell x4, FSmith x4

It's not a great kick - it's aiming towards touch, but the weight isn't right and Russell takes it cleanly with time to return it. His kick isn't brilliant either, but it is long and MSmith takes the mark. He waits till everyone's behind him and then kicks it to about 45 metres out. For those keeping score, that means we have gained a grand sum of 5m territory from our decision to aimlessly kick, while giving away possession.

Minute 69: Chesssum does what he can to win possession back, but Scotland just about slap it down to White. The ball gets winged into midfield, where MFagerson becomes the latest person to think, "I bet I could run over FSmith - he looks small." He gets chopped down and BCurry is straight in over the ball. Darge and Jordan come in to try and lever him off and end up taking one arm and leg each and picking him up like they're planning on giving him the birthday bumps. They carry him away from the ruck and then drop him from about 4ft in the air. He lands fine, with the only injury being done to his dignity, but Brousset is unhappy and pings them for dangerous play.

Townsend whined about this decision after the match, but frankly it's the least contentious decision that England got. It's not really *dangerous*, but you also can't pick someone up by all 4 limbs and then drop them. Plus Darge comes in so far from the side that he's closer to England's gate than he would be to coming in from the Scottish one, but that's by-the-by.

Itoje is having a ponder, but FSmith has his hands on the ball and is indicating he wants to kick it. My (admittedly poor) lipreading has Itoje asking him, "Can you kick that? We have got Elliot," but FSmith is adamant.

Minute 70: ITV's football director shines again by giving us a closeup on Elliot Daly, who is not taking the kick, but eventually someone gets him the camera they've had trained on FSmith's parents all game.

FSmith makes generous use of his shot clock and the clock ticks 70 as he's on his approach to the ball.

loudnconfident wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 2:46 pm Just a thank-you to @puja for these MbMs! Appreciated!

You're very welcome. Thank you for the recognition.

Puja

Minute 71: Fin was right to be confident - sails through centre of the posts with room to spare.

Joe Heyes becomes the penultimate man off the England bench, with Stuart making a mockery of me calling him done for at 47 minutes. I think, if we had more faith in Heyes, he'd probably have done better coming off the same time as Genge, but he has kept doing his job.

Scotland kick into the 22 - Randall is coming forward, calls for it, takes the ball, then looks up at the kick chase and realises that he doesn't want to be here at all. He passes immediately to Earl who does a good enough job of bulldozing that we get a clean breakdown to caterpillar'n'box from.

Randall does a very decent job this time - finding a good touch 45m out.

Minute 72: Scotland throw to the back and spin it wide again - it looks like regulation defence until Slade goes forward at the wrong point and ends up getting rounded by Rowe on the outside. I watched this the first time and was furious at Slade, so I went back and rewatched again and again to work out what on earth he was doing. And, do you know what I found? He gets fucking tripped again! McDowall on the dummy running line catches his ankle as Slade tries to drift off him and, what looks on first glance to be Slade blitzing, is actually Slade stumbling and trying to regather his feet.

I don't know if that one was deliberate or if it's just an unfortunate collision, but it's an odd coincidence to have both Scots at outside centre just happen to trip a defender when running a blocking line.

Anyway, Scotland have a 3-on-1, but Freeman does a belting job to manage them along the touchline and make the tackle. Scotland then go one-out runners for three phases and get brutalised backwards by the English defence, before Dobie messes up a simple pass and Scotland knee it forwards.

The ball bounces to FSmith who hurls it across to Daly. There is space to counter-attack, but I'm not going to put Daly on the AKC (aimless kicking counter) because there are acres of undefended Scots territory and a properly aimed kick is a guaranteed 50:22. Unfortunately, "properly aimed" wasn't on Daly's list today, as he belts it straight into touch and we have to go back for a Scottish attacking lineout about 30m out.

Minute 73: Lots of movement in the lineout and it's just enough to beat Chessum as he can't quite get two lifters in place where it's going up. It's messy as hell from both sides and ends up with Ritchie either being thrown or being dragged down on England's side. Hard to tell if Itoje helped with that, but the touch judge says Chessum jumped across the line which, yes, he did, but so did Ritchie. In the absence of any evidence of Itoje-malfeasance, that feels like a harsh call.

Scotland attempt to attack, but they're not really going anywhere and it ends with Lawrence turning the ball over with a jackal, so we're back to the lineout penalty.

Minute 74: Speaking of making decisions with penalties over kicking for goal, Russell opts to put this one into the corner. With it having been a penalty in the lineout proper, it's 15m from touch, so it is eminently kickable, but he doesn't fancy chipping away at England's lead, even with over 6 minutes to go. That's the difference in mindset that recent history gives you - Scotland and believe they can win it with one bold stroke, while we're nervously looking over our shoulders, waiting for the other boot to fall.

It's not a great kick though - lands about 12m out from the tryline, which isn't really good enough for an international touch kicker from that position (unless you're Slade, apparently). We then teach him a rough lesson in not taking the points when they're on offer, as Itoje competes and gets just enough to the ball to knock it free from Skinner's grasp. The ball bounces beautifully into CCS's hands and he arcs round, builds up speed, bounces Ritchie and then carries through MFagerson and Brown to get us 17 metres out with clean ball.

Minute 75: We reset once to get everybody in position and Randall uses 7 of his allotted 5 seconds after "Use it!" to box-kic... nope, gets charged down. Scotland didn't look especially onside there, but the TV director's decided to use a Dutch tilt angle in a close-up rather than showing us the game, so I am guessing.

Offside or not, this is why Randall's not in the XXIII this week. Out of 3 box-kicks so far, only one was not an abject failure. He's shown gorgeous service, but you can't have a flaw that big in international rugby.

The ball rebounds to Dobie, who cuts back inside and sets up a ruck. Randall redeems himself a little as Jamie Bhatti decides he can pick and go blind to run over the tiny scrum-half and promptly gets his legs taken from under him, so now it's slow ball (especially with Itoje being an absolute pest). Scotland send yet more single runners into our defence for a bit, until they finally try something different - Jordan pulls back to Russell, who feeds Kinghorn, who tries to step inside and falls over. We're so well organised in defence that the space just isn't there.

Scotland manage to save the ball after Kinghorn's slip, but have committed enough numbers that their only option next phase is a one-out runner, who BCurry promptly tackles to send Scotland's attack behind the 22 again.

Minute 76: Further one-out runners. Further murderings by the defence. The only notable bit of this play is when Scotland make their first tip-on in a while, only for Slade to read it and take some revenge by smashing DVDM man-and-ball. Scotland end up around 33m away from England's try-line - they've lost nearly 20m in under 2 minutes.

Russell slings it wide and Kinghorn gets some territory back through running at Randall, but again the little 9 completes the tackle, even if he does concede a couple of metres.

Phase 13 of Scotland going nowhere but backwards with the ball - they do a pull-back to Russell and there is space outside, but that's mostly because the dummy runner has just cynically taken BCurry out off the ball. We cover it well though and Freeman makes the tackle.

Minute 77: The next phase, it's back to one-out runners and we push Scotland back again - Earl is actually robbed of a perfectly fine turnover there, but we have had some luck from the ref so let's not complain too loudly. He does listen well to the ref though and release his spoils so we don't concede a penalty. The patience and discipline is rewarded, as Freeman blitzes up next phase and Ashman attempts a miracle ball under pressure, which ends up going wildly forward into touch.

The TMO belatedly steps in to note BCurry getting shoulder-charged off the ball and England get a penalty. With my memory problems, I know that Scotland score again, but I'm genuinely not sure how that could possibly happen from this position. How on earth do we nearly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when we've got a penalty that will give us field position and possession with only 3 minutes left?!

Minute 78: Slade kicks for touch (a good 5m ahead of where the offence actually was, mind) and it's solidly acceptable without being actively good - I'd've preferred a lineout in the 22, but I'd rather be 30m out and have a guaranteed touch than go for broke and cock it up.

England take middle ball with Itoje and set a maul... and there's my answer - Brousset calls a penalty for offside as the props set themselves in front of Itoje for the maul. I'd like to call it harsh, because that's rarely called, but it is clear and obvious here and it's just not necessary. Why are we giving the referee the chance to call that, in this situation? Russell kicks down into England's half.

Minute 79: Scotland are bold and try the throwing to a standing player trick again, but this time England are paying attention and they're lucky to get away with it. The ball is scruffy, so they reset with a couple of forward carries that England deal with comfortably.

The key moment comes as England make a tackle and both Baxter and Chessum overthink it and fold around to the far side of the ruck, following the direction that the ball's been going. One of them probably needed to, but not both. Scotland go back the other way and Heyes abandons his post as guard on the side of the ruck to drift out and follow the ball, thinking his job there is done and he's needed to help press wide. Unfortunately, as Heyes drifts, no-one is there to fill in the gap he's left - Chessum and Baxter are over the other side of the ruck and are slow to react and George is being held in the ruck (quasi-legally), so there's a gaping hole in our defensive line. A good inside ball sees McDowall bursting through.

He gets up to the 22 and, frankly, embarrasses MSmith by going past him with ease - that's not full-back skills, cause I have seen MSmith do better in that situation before. That's just panic and overcommitting to leave himself vulnerable to the slightest of steps.

McDowall makes it to 6 metres out before he is dragged down by Chessum and the Scottish clearout is too good - preventing England from even giving away a yellow with a cynical foul. Quick ball means there's nothing to be done - Randall attempts to fly up and pressure Russell, but he gets the ball away and VDM gets an unopposed run to the line.

Full marks to Freeman though - lots of press burbling about, "Why didn't VDM go under the posts?!?!" The answer is Freeman not stopping running and working - he takes an angle that forces VDM to ground it in the corner and presses him until he does.

Minute 80: Terrible direction from the ITV football director. Some terrible replays of the try that show little to nothing, rather than focussing on the kick to win the match (or the controversy over him being moved 2m further out than he should've been), and then we cut back to a wide angle just in time for the kick, so it's impossible to see if it actually goes over. Great work, idiot. One of the biggest moments of drama in the whole 6N, ruined because it was left in the hands of a rank amateur.

Eventually a replay shows what we should've been watching live - the view from behind Russell so that we can watch the ball curve to the left of the posts. How great would that have been to watch live?!

Ted Hill comes on for Chessum, who has run his heart out today. He'd've been my England PotM. I was fuming when they brough Hill on for 8 seconds, but in retrospect it's a smart move - Earl, Chessum and Itoje were all having very good games, so it didn't make sense to have him come on for any of them earlier, but now this is a specialist situation. It's not really 8 seconds, it's however long Scotland can keep the ball alive and a fresh pair of legs to replace a lock who's been running for everything for 80 minutes, is a really good thing to have when there's one single defensive set to win the match.

FSmith's kickoff is rubbish. Flies like a dying duck and has nowhere near enough hangtime - it goes deep into the 22, but that's about its only merit. Scotland gather and get tackled by Hill, who is first up chasing.

Minute 81: England's defence is all over the place. We have three players marking one down a 5m blindside, and players rushing up to try and make a man-and-ball hit that's never on. Scotland play wide and Kinghorn steps inside Slade to make some ground. Itoje comes very close to heroism by ripping the ball free, but it lands straight in other Scots hands and we press up for yet another tackle. We are better organised and calmer now, and the defence looks easier. Itoje nearly wins it again - this time hitting Hurd man-and-ball and knocking it on in the tackle, but the ball just bounces straight to the nearest Scot.

Minute 82: Scotland are battering from side-to-side like a bluebottle trying to find its way out of a jar. The TMO has found his remote control quicker this time and reports down that Itoje's knock-on was deliberate, so it's Scotland advantage. CCS goes up to try and hit Russell, but the 10 rounds him like a matador and finds Kinghorn running down the wing. It looks like there's space out wide, but FSmith has the angle on him so Kinghorn cuts inside and finds a double-tackle from Slade and Daly that knocks him backwards.

Bhatti shows some nice hands for a pull-back in the face of the defence and Scotland have some room for manoeuvre. Hill misses a tackle on Jordan, but he steps back inside and gets held by Randall. CCS goes for a flying dive to finish him off, but Jordan's dropping to the floor and CCS gets pinged for a high tackle - that looks very harsh.

Minute 83: Russell takes the absolute piss, kicking the ball a good 8m ahead of where the ref signalled, to see Scotland up to the England 10m line. Scotland throw to the back and it's crooked as hell, but because England didn't jump, they're allowed to have it. I don't much care for that law variation. A pedant would also note that one of Scotland's lifters is obstructing, in the same way as England's were either, but thankfully, I'm not a pedant.

Scotland form an excellent maul and rumble forwards, but England show great technique and patience - no-one drops it in a panic, no-one gives away a stupid penalty trying to be a hero, everyone listens to the referee and abandons ship when he says to get out. First we slow it, then we stop it, and Dobie is forced to play away. Long wide pass, but FSmith has blitzed up to pressure Jordan and then move onto Russell when the pull-back comes. Finn attempts to put in a big miss-pass to the wing, but Fin snags his arm at a crucial time and the pass is spoiled.

The ball dribbles along the ground to Rowe who stumbles as he picks it up. Daly, Slade, and MSmith all seize upon him and help him to stand up before bodily lifting him off the ground. Scotland protest at this, presumably on the basis that they got pinged earlier, but England put his feet back on the floor so the ref gives a Gallic shrug and says, "It's a maul!"

Minute 84: Scottish players come in to try and impact things, with Kinghorn taking a special note to impact MSmith's kidneys with a swinging arm, but there's no moving Daly, Slade, and Marcus when they're having a group hug. England players join in and Hill is very lucky to get away with blatantly joining from the wrong side - if it's called a maul, then you need to come in from your side, Ted. Itoje joins without any intention of pushing or helping - I strongly suspect he's there just so he can start celebrating in the maul and wind up a few Scots. Heyes makes his best contribution of the match by deciding that he doesn't want to wait for a ref's decision and packs down on the side of the maul like he's scrummaging - everyone else is standing upright, so one prop's power is enough to drive the whole mess into touch and end the game.

Final thoughts:
I'm even more convinced after watching that game that half of the England performance was psychological. That team was worried about losing and they tensed up, resulting in:
Times we aimlessly kicked the ball back to Scotland: Slade x2, Sleightholme x1, Mitchell x4, FSmith x4. We looked good in the first 10 minutes and attacked well, but we went into our shell as Scotland went on the attack, ironically giving them more ball by us being scared of them. We were noticeably more ambitious after a talking to at halftime, although that's damning with faint praise, but still looked trepidatious and overrespectful of a Scots side that we mostly had entirely outmatched.

I think we'll be much better for having won and hopefully two wins on the bounce will bring some belief back to them.

Slade was poor and is deservedly dropped - he did do a lot of good as well, especially in defence, but it's time to move on now. Chessum was our PotM, with an unending workrate and absolute control of the lineout. FSmith was actually disappointing on m-b-m-watch with some poor options in attack, although that's probably saying things about how high my standards are for him. Sleightholme was a bit unfairly criticised - wasn't his best, but definitely not to be dropped. MSmith had some iffy moments at 15 and some good ones, but there's not enough evidence to rule it one way or the other, especially when we're not passing the ball to the backs enough.

All things told, lucky to escape unscathed, but we are due a touch of luck and hopefully will feel better for it.

Puja

Puja wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 1:16 am Final thoughts:
I'm even more convinced after watching that game that half of the England performance was psychological. That team was worried about losing and they tensed up, resulting in:
Times we aimlessly kicked the ball back to Scotland: Slade x2, Sleightholme x1, Mitchell x4, FSmith x4. We looked good in the first 10 minutes and attacked well, but we went into our shell as Scotland went on the attack, ironically giving them more ball by us being scared of them. We were noticeably more ambitious after a talking to at halftime, although that's damning with faint praise, but still looked trepidatious and overrespectful of a Scots side that we mostly had entirely outmatched.

I think we'll be much better for having won and hopefully two wins on the bounce will bring some belief back to them.

Slade was poor and is deservedly dropped - he did do a lot of good as well, especially in defence, but it's time to move on now. Chessum was our PotM, with an unending workrate and absolute control of the lineout. FSmith was actually disappointing on m-b-m-watch with some poor options in attack, although that's probably saying things about how high my standards are for him. Sleightholme was a bit unfairly criticised - wasn't his best, but definitely not to be dropped. MSmith had some iffy moments at 15 and some good ones, but there's not enough evidence to rule it one way or the other, especially when we're not passing the ball to the backs enough.

All things told, lucky to escape unscathed, but we are due a touch of luck and hopefully will feel better for it.

Puja

Cheers Puja. I agree with that, matching my in game impression. England were panicking and not executing well, which'd be a problem for any set of tactics. I'm surprised you don't mention Mitchell here. He has become so key for England and it's clear when he's having an off day everything is buggered. There's a real need for some of the other nines to kick on quickly.

Also, Fin Smith Aldo showed he's a rookie here. Obviously worth persevering with but I feel a bit for he faded star of MSmith.

Good stuff.
Think the conclusions are bang on. Chessum was simply excellent.
I've rewatched the game and thought that we improved enormously in the 2nd half when we defended much more intelligently and tried to play a bit more.
Overall we were fortunate to win but did do more good stuff than i gave us credit for at the time.