Category: Scotland Rugby

Gregor Townsend knows how quickly hope can turn to despair but their performance against France could spur them on to greater heights

The feeling that Scotland might just have the hang of this winning thing continues to build. Playing dazzling rugby every now and then has never been a problem. Meaningful wins? Harder to come by.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the extraordinary win over France – and there were, how to put this, quite a few of those – was watching the resolutely unmoved disposition of Gregor Townsend. As if there were nothing much to see here. Seven tries and 50 points against the red-hot favourites for the title. All in a day’s work.

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• ‘It was all about making sure we fired the first shot’

• Gregor Townsend hails ‘brilliant day for our supporters’

Kyle Steyn said the key to his side’s stunning 50-40 Six Nations victory over France on Saturday was striking first. The 32-year-old was named man of the match after he and his fellow wing Darcy Graham scored two tries each in a match they actually led 47-14 at one point.

That would have been a record Scottish victory over France but instead Steyn and his teammates had to settle for a highest ever score after outscoring France by seven tries to six.

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A stunning victory for Scotland in a thirteen try classic at Murrayfield.

4 mins. It’s advantage Scotland as Ramos fumbles a Russell kick forward off his chest. He was under no pressure at all, but the sun is fierce on that side of the pitch and hindered him. Scotland scrum coming in the France half.

2 mins. Some textbook take, recycle, kick periods from both sides; each probing for an opening via the boot and kick chasers. So far nothing doing for either.

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The hosts must conjure the spirit of their last title triumph, 27 years ago, when the sides meet at Murrayfield

Even now, 27 years on, Kenny Logan still remembers how good it felt. Back in 1999, as this year, Scotland were title outsiders before a crunch fixture against the defending champions, France. Beneath a bright blue Parisian sky they gloriously ripped up the script with five first-half tries and, thanks to England’s late implosion against Wales at Wembley a day later, hoisted the trophy at Murrayfield in front of 15,000 fans on the Monday.

For Logan, who landed five successful kicks on that famous afternoon, the timeless lessons of the story are twofold. The first is that Scotland have failed to win the tournament since; and the second is that, at times like this, fortune favours the brave: “When we went to France that year we took the game to them. That’s what Scotland will do this weekend – and probably do it better than we could.”

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Scotland pinch victory over spirited Wales five minutes from time in thrilling Six Nations contest in Cardiff.

Yes, we know the team is struggling, but the Principality Stadium looks incredible!

If you are a rugby fan and you’ve not visited this cathedral, get your accountant on the line and book yourself a trip.

I am not a confident Welsh fan. There are so many issues at the moment, it’s hard to know where to start. The WRU is spectacularly badly run. We were fortunate to have a couple of generations of genuinely World Class players between the mid 00’s and 2020ish, and considering the resources available, population, player base etc, that was always likely to drop off at some point. But I don’t think anyone expected the drop-off to be quite so drastic. We kept being told that it was a young side who would gained experience and improve. But that’s been a stuck record for 4 years or so. There’s no identity to the team. When you watch them, you often cant see what they’re trying to achieve. The basics, the flipping basics(!), are repeatedly falling apart. The first quarter against England was as bad a spell of international rugby as you’re ever likely to see. I don’t know where to go from here. It’s hideous.

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A humbling Six Nations defeat at Murrayfield has left the England coach with significant questions to answer

Some of life’s certainties are impossible to sidestep. And to the trinity of death, taxes and rail delays can now be added a fourth familiar staple. When Scotland play England at Murrayfield it is now all but guaranteed the hosts will raise their game to Ben Nevis‑type heights and the visitors will be taken down a peg or three.

Thus it was again at the weekend as Scotland reignited the bonfire of English vanities and once more sent the auld enemy homewards tae think again. A chastened England were exposed repeatedly in thought and deed by opponents unrecognisable from the sodden losers in Rome the previous week and, as a result, the visitors were brutally consigned to a fifth Calcutta Cup defeat in the past six editions.

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Kyle Steyn and Finn Russell were irrepressible for the hosts while Ollie Chessum shone for England but George Ford was among those in white who had days to forget

Tom Jordan Solid under high ball, did his bit in a cohesive attacking display from Gregor Townsend’s fluent backline. 7

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Scotland score four tries as England’s 12-match unbeaten run ends with a thumping in Edinburgh

If we could distill the feeling when the music cuts out in Flower of Scotland, and the fans take over, we’d be millionaires.

Hook that right into my vein and call me in a week!

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• Scotland boast strong recent Calcutta Cup record

• England have not won at Murrayfield since 2020

Maro Itoje has called on his England side to be “bulletproof” as they seek to clinch a first win at Murrayfield in six years on Saturday. England can keep their grand slam pursuit alive by successfully defending the Calcutta Cup and Itoje has urged his side to create their own history despite their recent wretched form in Edinburgh.

With England on a 12-match winning streak and Scotland suffering a shock defeat by Italy last week, Steve Borthwick’s side are clear favourites for victory. Their only victory at Murrayfield since Eddie Jones’ first game in charge came in miserable weather in 2020, however, with Scotland securing victories in 2022 and last time out in 2024.

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• ‘People should spend more time supporting him’

• Itoje restored as England captain for Six Nations match

Steve Borthwick has called on Scotland supporters to lay off Gregor Townsend before the Calcutta Cup on Saturday, pointing out that his opposite number is his nation’s most successful coach of the professional era.

Townsend is under huge pressure after the defeat against Italy in Rome last weekend came after he bizarrely claimed a report he had agreed to take over at Newcastle Red Bulls after the 2027 World Cup was a ruse designed to distract his side before they welcome England to Murrayfield.

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As pressure builds before Calcutta Cup, Scotland’s coach may well have reached the point of diminishing returns

The witty Anglo-American author Ashleigh Brilliant passed away last September at the age of 91, but his best lines are timeless. Beleaguered sports coaches worldwide will all recognise one of his characteristically pithy observations: “I try to take one day at a time – but sometimes several days attack me at once.” To be responsible for an under-pressure national side must induce a similar feeling.

So what do you do when coaching life starts serving you lemons? After a while there are only two options: try to ride it out, or accept it might be wiser for someone else to have a go. It can be a delicate judgment, often shaped by non-sporting considerations. Unless it becomes apparent, as seemingly happened with the recently ousted All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, that your dressing room has already made the call for you.

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• Italy 18-15 Scotland

• Azzurri score early tries and resist fightback

They say the Six Nations is all about momentum and Scotland, again, find themselves sliding rapidly downhill. Passion and effort are guaranteed from any Italy team but they were clinical here too and defended magnificently. They ruthlessly capitalised on Scotland’s often rank inaccuracy and a richly deserved win – their second in three years against Scotland – sets them up beautifully for the tournament.

The fly-half Paolo Garbisi played the appallingly wet conditions superbly to celebrate his 50th Test cap, testing the visitors’ defence with regular, spiralling contestable kicks and mostly striking the ball well off the tee. The centres Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex, also marking his 50th cap, were sensational again while the energy and skill of the wing Louis Lynagh significantly softened the blow of Ange Capuozzo’s injury absence. Collectively, in difficult conditions, Italy’s handling and ball movement were far superior to Scotland’s and arguably, for Gregor Townsend and his players, there is no excuse for that.

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Italy shone through the storm to claim best possible start in Rome but Gregor Townsend’s Scotland flopped again

6 mins. The position is wasted by the visitors as the malfunctioning lineout show continues, the ball lost back to the Italian side. There’s some more traded possession via kicks as both sides try to find a groove in the damp conditions. Thus far all they are finding is a grumbling crowd at how poor it all is. But there’s a lineout coming for Italy in the Scottish half.

4 mins. Scotland have their first lineout and their attempted catch and drive is spilled by Matt Fagerson as he looked to set up the maul. However, Ref O’Keefe determines the reason for said spilling was an illegal early drive from Italy. Penalty Scotland and it’s sent to touch in the Azzuri 22.

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Ravaged Italy await a Scottish squad that has too often flattered to deceive while Ireland begin post-mortem after France humbling

If not now, then when? The stakes are never low in the Six Nations but for Scotland and Gregor Townsend the 2026 championship feels more loaded with significance than most.

Under the tutelage of the 52-year-old head coach, the many disappointments of recent campaigns have been met with an assurance that there is potential for success in this squad. Between now and mid-March would be a handy time to prove it.

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The Glasgow prop turns 30 on Monday and helping to raise four kids under seven he is feeling it, but has Saracens to deal with on Sunday first

It is a proper challenge. The screeching pressure, the hard graft, the energy-sapping demands. And all that before Zander Fagerson, father of four kids under seven including 14-month-old twins, heads out for his intense day job with Glasgow Warriors and Scotland. As the big man wryly puts it: “You definitely need a lot more patience with the kids. It’s different stresses. One’s more physical, one’s more mental. I love them both.”

Welcome to Fagerson’s insanely busy life. For him and his wife, Yasmine, “hectic” does not begin to cover it. But talk to him immediately after another full-on session on the training field – “The backs have coffees and do their hair, the forwards are out grafting” – and the British & Irish Lions prop is clearly full of beans. And why not? Glasgow remain unbeaten in their Champions Cup pool and will sit among the top seeds for the start of the knockout stage should they beat Saracens at Scotstoun on Sunday.

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