Scotland v England LIVE: Result and reaction from Six Nations
Scotland 30-21 England: Duhan van der Merwe’s sublime hat-trick helped Scotland to a historic fourth straight win in the Calcutta Cup
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Your support makes all the difference.Duhan van der Merwe scored a superb hat-trick as Scotland rugby beat England rugby 30-21 at Murrayfield to claim a fourth successive Six Nations win in the fixture for the first time since the 1890s.
England, seeking a third Six Nations win for the first time since 2020, led through a George Furbank try after five minutes and looked in control, only for Van der Merwe to strike twice to help the hosts to a somewhat flattering 17-13 half-time lead.
The winger, who scored two superb tries in Scotland’s victory at Twickenham last season, collected a Finn Russell kick three minutes into the second half for his third, and two Russell penalties stretched Scotland’s lead to 30-16.
England emptied their bench and replacement wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso grabbed their second try after 66 minutes but, unlike in their opening wins over Italy and Wales, they could not complete the comeback as Scotland claimed their second victory having agonisingly lost to France last time out.
Relive all the action from Murrayfield below:
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The second fallow week will give Scotland and England plenty of time to recover, reflect and reload before back-to-back rounds bring this year’s Six Nations to a conclusion. Scotland travel to Italy in a fortnight, while England welcome Ireland to Twickenham bidding to stop another green grand slam charge.
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Duhan Van Der Merwe scores hat-trick as Scotland strengthen grip on Calcutta Cup
The magnificent Duhan Van Der Merwe became the first player to score a Calcutta Cup hat-trick for Scotland as they soared to their fourth consecutive victory over England in an intoxicating Guinness Six Nations showdown in Edinburgh.
The jet-heeled wing – who scored a stunning double at Twickenham just over 12 months ago – had the home crowd in raptures as he produced a Murrayfield masterclass to inspire his team to a 30-21 victory and move to within one of Scotland’s all-time record try-scorer Stuart Hogg.
Duhan Van Der Merwe scores hat-trick as Scotland strengthen grip on Calcutta Cup
The wing climbed to within one of Scotland’s all-time record try-scorer Stuart Hogg as Scotland soared to their fourth consecutive win over England.
England head coach Steve Borthwick says errors cost his side
“Credit to Scotland for a very strong performance. They are a team who have been together for a good number of years and know what they are trying to do. We are a team that is trying to develop, and I think you saw aspects of our game take a step forward, the team trying to develop the attack, but when you turnover that much ball, it’s very tough to win a Test match against a team of Scotland’s quality.
“It’s going to take time. We know today wasn’t good enough, we made too many errors, and we’ve got to make sure it’s better going forward.
“You look at our first 20 today, I thought the guys started well, but in that second quarter our error rate went up. Scotland then scored far too easily off a strike play and a turnover, and you can’t allow a team to score that easily.
“Today wasn’t good enough. We wanted to win and we didn’t. But eight wins out of the last nine, there have been some results. We’ve got a two week build into Ireland and we’ll make sure we are better there.”
And the BBC grab Finn Russell for his thoughts on another Calcutta Cup triumph
“We are a team that have achieved quite a bit, set a few records, but there’s still a long way to go. We are not getting ahead of ourselves. I’ve been here with Scotland for nearly ten years now, and we’ve been beaten by 60 points down at Twickenham or by a point up here. It’s been nice being on the other side of it for the last few years.
“I’ve been struggling a bit with my goalkicking at Bath but it’s been going well in this tournament. It’s great for the team, I think, keeping the scoreboard at ticking and England at arm’s length.
“We had a really professional week building up to this game. We managed to beat a really good England team today. I think the most frustrating thing about the France game will be if we do manage to go to Italy and get a win - we’d be looking back at that game as pretty frustrating. But that’s sport and these things happen. For us, we just had to do our job this week and today and hopefully go over to Italy and do a professional job there as well.”
England captain Jamie George on his side’s defeat
“We really felt in a good way coming into this game, we laid some good foundations, but we made life hard for ourselves today,” George tells the BBC. The first 20 minutes was probably the best we’ve played for a while now but we got hit with a couple of thunderbolts, Duhan van der Merwe showing his world-class capabilities, and when you gift a team 14 points you are going to struggle.
“We spoke about having a fast start and I don’t see many issues with how we played in the first half, but we were a little bit loose maybe. You hand the ball over to Finn Russell and Duhan van der Merwe, they can create magic. A lot of what we did was good, a lot of what we created with the ball was good, but we just can’t hand the ball over to a team like that.
“I think we are very clear on how we want to play, the way we want to defend, attack and take teams on. Set-piece wise we put Scotland under pressure, our kicking game was good, we’ve just got to piece things together. We’ve got a couple of weeks leading in to Ireland and we’ve got to make use of that time.”
Scotland retain the Calcutta Cup
A lovely touch from the Scotland team, giving the retiring Dr James Robson the honour of lifting the Calcutta Cup as he prepares to bow out after this Six Nations. Happy memories for a great servant in his final game at Murrayfield after 30 years spent patching up Scottish rugby players.
Duhan van der Merwe speaks to the BBC after his match-winning hat-trick
“I can’t believe it, to be honest. I’ve never scored a hat-trick for Scotland and to do it today is so special. I must be waking up and feeling like scoring tries - I’m just the lucky one to finish them off.
“I’m buzzing. It shows you where we are going. I want to thank all the supporters for coming out, it means a lot to us. We’re building.”
FT: Scotland 30-21 England
Four in a row! For the first time since the 1890s, Scotland hold the Calcutta Cup for the fourth successive year - and boy how those sips of victory will taste sweet tonight! They keep their Six Nations hopes alive thanks to a fine controlling performance from Finn Russell, a serious physical effort from the home pack and three scintillating scores from wing wonder Duhan van der Merwe.
Scotland 30-21 England, 79 minutes
But Scotland will hold on! Elliot Millar-Mills and Ewan Ashman lock their limbs around Ben Spencer in a winning embrace, holding the scrum half up for long enough to satisfy the referee a maul has been formed, and then collapsing to the floor in delight.
There are still 30 seconds left, but victory is theirs.
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