Six Nations: Scots crush England but must front up again to save Townsend

What a strange place for Scottish rugby to be in, going into a Calcutta Cup match at home knowing that this time a win over England would not cure all of their ills.

There was a time – 2018, to be exact, given Scotland back then had not beaten England in a decade – when victory over the Auld Enemy would have allowed Gregor Townsend to walk into any pub in Scotland and be greeted like a long-lost son. Now? Not universal adulation, even though his side secured a third straight home win over England and their sixth win in the last nine in this fixture, a raucous 31-20 triumph which felt more convincing than that.

The problem, if you can call it that, is that Townsend and Scotland have had so much success over England in recent years, both home and away, that getting their hands on rugby’s oldest trophy is certainly enjoyable, but also a familiar feeling rather than a goal to chase on the horizon.

It is hard to match the euphoria of ending a 38-year wait to win at Twickenham, for example, when going into this latest meeting Scotland in this decade have been so dominant. “It’s our biggest game of the season, it always has been,” said Townsend, and he is right. But would winning this game alone satisfy a Scottish public who recognise that his group, Scotland’s best-ever squad, could potentially be hitting higher heights? That was up for debate.

Everyone knows Scotland can beat England. What nobody knows, after close to nine years of Townsend in charge, is whether they can replicate that level of performance against the rest of the world’s top sides. Or advance beyond the quarter-finals of a Rugby World Cup. Or finish a Six Nations higher than third place.

And the question hovering over Townsend like a threatening thunderstorm since those two catastrophic collapses in the autumn against New Zealand and Argentina – both winnable, especially having led Argentina 21-0 at the start of the second half – has been whether Townsend has, in fact, taken Scotland as far as he can. Nine years is a long stretch. The messages may change but can the same voice still land as effectively after that much time, after that much scar tissue from disappointing defeats?

Last week’s loss to Italy, a fixture effectively played in a washing machine given how wet it was in Rome, might have been more readily forgiven had it not come on the back of those implosions in the autumn. Or if there was not a coaching replacement already on the Scottish Rugby Union payroll.

Franco Smith’s stock was already high after winning the United Rugby Championship with Glasgow Warriors in 2024, stunning the Bulls on their home turf in Pretoria in the final. This season’s efforts with Glasgow in Europe, finishing the pool stages with maximum points after four wins, combined with the fact that Smith was in the running to coach Wales before Steve Tandy took charge, has made him a hot commodity, right on the SRU’s doorstep.

Not forgetting Townsend’s own external interests. The Scotland coach currently works for the Newcastle Red Bulls as a consultant and reports have suggested that he will join the Prem club on a full-time basis after next year’s Rugby World Cup. The more Scotland struggled, the more an earlier move for Townsend felt possible.

In a way, Townsend’s selection for this game was admirable. Sticking with the same back three from Rome, even though Blair Kinghorn, a two-Test Lion from last summer, was back healthy and available, felt like a bold call. Four changes to the pack and also going for a 5-3 split on the bench, knowing that England would fly north with an extra forward given their preference to have six, were not gambles exactly but certainly selections made with conviction.

The way Scotland started must have made him giddy. Bursting into a 17-0 lead, scoring twice with Henry Arundell in the sin-bin, it could not have gone any better. Last year they went to Allianz Stadium with a short kicking game and tried to grind out a win, losing by a point.

Here they were all about width, not afraid to play from touchline to touchline even when backed up deep in their own 22.

England’s utter dominance at the scrum was ultimately made to be completely irrelevant, struggling to turn their run of set-piece penalties into points. Full credit to Scotland for feasting on a buffet of English errors, punishing mistakes and exploiting the gaps left in England’s defence. The midfield combination of Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman, both in defence and attack, looked muddled. England were inaccurate in the air, and when Scotland had the possession and territory that they wanted, their half-backs, Ben White and Finn Russell, readily found space and exploited it, summed up by White’s sharpness to switch the direction of play for the opening try.

Passion can often be overplayed as a reason for victory, but the intensity that Scotland showed in their carrying and aggression in defence set them apart from a stunned England for most of the contest. On more than one occasion England had a sniff of the line and were thwarted by a knock-on or turnover, or being slow to the breakdown.

Defeats like this can tell you a lot about a side, and the truth is that, even if this rivalry is unique, England are not as ready as we thought to clinch the big wins on the road.

As for Scotland, as satisfying as this will have been – “What a fucking day!” yelled one supporter at full-time and who could blame him – now this has to be replicated. Go and win in Cardiff, where their record is terrible with only two wins this century. Knock off an Ireland side who appear to be wobbling, whom Scotland have not defeated since 2017.

Townsend, after huge pressure, punched the air in delight when Huw Jones scored the opening try. You could feel the relief. Will this win, this performance, be enough for Townsend to save his job if the rest of the championship is a disappointment? That will be revealed.

Photograph by David Rogers/Getty