Prop Ellis Genge has driven through for the only try of the game as England eventually found a way past Scotland in an error-strewn 13-6 Six Nations win in foul Edinburgh conditions.
The teams were locked at 3-3 with 10 minutes remaining of a chaotic match on Sunday when Genge was shoved over by his teammates following a good scrum to give England a much-needed victory after last week’s opening defeat in France.
It was just about the only memorable moment of a game where the conditions made handling and kicking a huge challenge but England will not care about that, having drawn with the Scots at Twickenham last year and lost on their last visit to Murrayfield in 2018.
“We are happy with the performance,” said their captain Owen Farrell.
“To come up here with the conditions and the atmosphere, we knew it would be tough. The wind was unpredictable and it made the ball go out on the full a few times but the most pleasing thing was our attitude. We grew as the game went on.”
England coach Eddie Jones was upbeat.
“Apart from one 15-minute period we dominated the game and dominated field position,” he said.
“We had a few poor kicks but we dominated possession and we finished it off, which we didn’t do last week.”
England next face Ireland in two weeks, with Andy Farrell’s team top of the standings after their victory over Wales in Dublin earlier on Saturday.
Scotland travel to Italy next in desperate need of victory after back-to-back defeats, not that coach Gregor Townsend was sounding downhearted.
“I thought the way we played in the second half was excellent, given the conditions,” he said.
“To show what we did for the first 15 minutes, to force errors and penalties was good. It was just that five-minute period that England got into our 22 that we have to remedy.”
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Exactly the game predicted. Horrible. By accounts of those actually at the game and not on their couch, conditions were much worse than they appeared on the broadcast; 50kph winds gusting to 80, in a stadium that made the wind variable and unpredictable all over the park, a -2 degree wind chill, and sleeting rain coming from all directions. Skills weren't necessarily lacking, but some decision making was. Jones was right to go for a 6:2 split and starting with three fetchers paid dividends. Thought Gauzere was consistently average in his calls, missing howlers from both sides, but no doubt he wanted to be back in the South of France. Kruis replacing a fifth choice lock Ewells made a big difference, and Itoje had his usual muted game topping the tackle count of any player on the park. Important win for England, they'll no doubt be hoping for their first dry track of the championship in a couple of weeks time when the Irish come to town.
Ben
Guest
I know the conditions were bad but ive seen tests played in worse than that. Athletic Park springs to mind. But that game was nothing to write home about. Gee even the commentators were saying the skills on display were poor. Was looking forward to that game.