02/14/26 01:33:00
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02/14 13:31 CST Scotland stuns England 31-20 at Murrayfield and snaps a 12-test
winning streak
Scotland stuns England 31-20 at Murrayfield and snaps a 12-test winning streak
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) --- England's 12-test winning streak was shattered by
Scotland pulling out an astonishingly one-sided 31-20 victory at Murrayfield in
the Six Nations on Saturday.
England was favored to win at Murrayfield for the first time since 2020, having
developed a mighty bench and become well-drilled and confident during its
longest winning run in nine years.
But set-piece dominance was undone by sloppy handling within five meters of
Scotland's tryline, under pressure from having to play catchup after a
scintillating Scottish start.
Scotland, conducted by a masterly Finn Russell, blasted off to 17-0 after 14
minutes.
A 20-minute red card to England winger Henry Arundell hardly made a difference.
Scotland was already leading by 14 when he was issued a second yellow card
right on halftime.
In his absence, Scotland out-scored England only 7-3, including a second try
for center Huw Jones that was Scotland's bonus-point fourth and last try.
Scotland and coach Gregor Townsend, on the occasion of his 100th test, have
been under fire all week after opening the championship last weekend with a
humbling 18-15 loss to Italy in Rome.
But a sixth win (plus the epic draw in 2019) over England in nine matchups, all
under Townsend, will quieten the growing clamor for him to resign, at least
until Scotland's final position in the championship becomes clear.
Beating England has given Townsend's Scotland a best placing of only third,
giving supporters reason to believe the victories, while welcome, have been
used by the team to gloss over poor campaigns.
Against Italy, Scotland made no line breaks. In the first half against England,
it made 10.
The speed and slickness with which Scotland moved the ball twisted England into
knots. Arundell, coming off a hat trick against Wales, was sin-binned early for
not releasing.
Russell's one-handed flick on with Tom Roebuck in his face set up the opening
try for Jones.
Russell's line break then was followed by captain Sione Tuipulotu's huge pass
to unmarked flanker Jamie Ritchie to stroll over.
Arundell returned from the sin-bin to score thanks to George Ford, who added a
conversion and penalty, and England looked to be finding a foothold.
But then Russell switched the attack, stepped two defenders and chipped ahead.
England prop Ellis Genge made a mess of grabbing the ball and Scotland
scrumhalf Ben White took the gift over the tryline.
Right on halftime, Arundell took out leaping opposite Kyle Steyn and his second
yellow card became a 20-minute red.
Ford started the second half with a penalty; he was perfect off the tee. But
his drop goal attempt was charged down by Matt Fagerson, who collected the ball
and let Jones race to the posts at the other end. It made Jones the top
try-scorer in Six Nations history since 2000 (18), and the leading try-scorer
against England (8) in the same period.
Russell went five for five in goalkicking, a year after his late missed
conversion cost Scotland a fifth straight win over England.
England finished with a late converted try to No. 8 Ben Earl.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
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