England beaten by Scotland in Six Nations opener
England were beaten 11-6 by Scotland at Twickenham in their opening game of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations.
Early ill-discipline from England enabled Scotland to claim the first points of the game, with Finn Russell converting the easiest of penalties in front of the hosts’ posts inside the opening five minutes.
Maro Itoje provided glimpses of promise for England, causing havoc in rucks and charging down two Ali Price box-kicks, but Gregor Townsend’s charges continued to dominate possession and territory in the first quarter.
Billy Vunipola landed a high shot on Russell on the 23-minute mark earning him a yellow card, and Scotland capitalised immediately, using their numbers out wide to eventually find Duhan van der Merwe, who powered over the line for a try. Russell was unable to convert.
Captain Owen Farrell cut the deficit to two points after slotting two quick fire penalties, as Vunipola returned to the field and Russell left it, the Scot sent to the sin bin for deliberately tripping Ben Youngs. An underwhelming first 40 for England saw Scotland take a narrow lead into the break. 6-8.
Scotland managed to see out the remainder of Russell’s leave, and his first involvement on returning to the pitch in the second half was to extend his side’s lead with another three-pointer.
Though scrappy with ball in hand, England’s defence was steadfast, as they thwarted multiple Scottish threats to their line. Finishers added zip to England’s attack, but nothing came from their attempts inside Scotland’s 22.
Scotland kept it tight for the final 10 minutes, kicking deep into England’s half at every opportunity, and held on to claim their first victory over England at Twickenham since 1983.
Reaction
Owen Farrell: "Massive credit to Scotland first and foremost, the way they played kept us out of the game, they got a good start and a fair bit of momentum off the back of a few penalties from us. They got the try and they kept us out from there on.
"We didn't get a proper foothold in the game. The whole game is joined up, we can talk about the attack or defence, but it's all joined up so we're going to have to look at the game as a whole - the story of the game - and see how we can get some momentum back quicker than we did today."
TEAMS
ENGLAND
15. Elliot Daly, 14. Anthony Watson, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Ollie Lawrence, 11. Jonny May, 10. Owen Farrell (C), 9. Ben Youngs, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. Mark Wilson, 7. Tom Curry, 8. Billy Vunipola.
FINISHERS
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Beno Obano, 18. Harry Williams, 19. Courtney Lawes,
20. Ben Earl, 21. Dan Robson, 22. George Ford, 23. Max Malins.
SCOTLAND
15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Sean Maitland, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Cameron Redpath, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ali Price, 1. Rory Sutherland 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson, 4. Scott Cummings, 5. Jonny Gray, 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Hamish Watson,
8. Matt Fagerson.
SUBSTITUTES
16. David Cherry, 17. Oli Kebble, 18. WP Nel, 19. Richie Gray, 20. Gary Graham,
21. Scott Steele, 22. Jaco van der Walt, 23. Huw Jones.
Fixtures & results
6 Feb - England 6-11 Scotland
13 Feb - England v Italy | 2.15pm KO
27 Feb - Wales v England | 4.45pm KO
13 March - England v France | 4.45pm KO
20 March - Ireland v England | 4.45pm KO
