England 16-15 Scotland: Calcutta Cup Six Nations player ratings

England

Marcus Smith

Tested out aerially early on and given a torrid time by Duhan van der Merwe. Shanked clearance kick but scored his goals. Slightly more dangerous after break.

6

Tommy Freeman

Strong finish for England’s first try after already showing skills under high ball. Van der Merwe gave him plenty to think about though. 

7

Ollie Lawrence

Might have done better with attempted tackle on Van der Merwe. Quiet until his break up middle but did he have to go for offload?

7

Henry Slade

Some excellent covering tackles and as leader of the defence he has to take credit with the way England hung in there in the first half. 

8

Ollie Sleightholme

Struggled to make an impact in the first half given Scotland had so much of the ball. Chased kicks but that isn’t really his game. Hooked early.

6

Fin Smith

Kicked a lot from hand – so much so it provoked a few groans – but showed his defensive capabilities with huge tackle on Jordan. Ultimately the match-winner again. 

7

Alex Mitchell

Ponderous and kicked far too often for the Twickenham crowd’s liking. Bizarre as he was imperious against France but taken off after an hour here.

6

Ellie Genge

Another strong scrummaging performance and relished the physical stuff, thundering on to the Scottish defence. Made his tackles too.  

7

Luke Cowan-Dickie

Chop tackle on Pierre Schoeman had Twickenham wincing; he brought typical aggression during his 47 minutes of action.

7

Will Stuart

It has largely gone unnoticed but he has developed into one of England’s most reliable and consistent performers. A Lion in waiting. 

8

Maro Itoje

Did his best to disrupt Scotland’s lineout and made an impressively acrobatic turnover. Chalk this up as another notch for England’s captain.

8

Ollie Chessum

Big tackle on Grant Gilchrist, big clearout on Zander Fagerson – a big impact on his first start for 11 months. Discipline wasn’t great but kept soldering on. Impressive. 

7

Tom Curry

Hip constantly bothering him but another heroic showing before hobbling off in agony.  Scotland might have been out of sight by half-time if not for his efforts.

7

Ben Earl

A couple of overzealous penalties given away after making it clear in the buildup that he was fired up for this one. Linked well with Marcus Smith. 

7

Tom Willis

Injured shoulder in some friendly fire from Genge and made way shortly before half-time. A few surges, a few meaty tackles up until then. 

6

REPLACEMENTS

J George (for Cowan-Dickie, 45) Big impact

8

; F Baxter (for Genge, 58) Super sub

7

; J Heyes (for Stuart, 71) Rolled up sleeves

7

; T Hill (for Chessum, 80) n/a; C Cunningham-South (for T Curry, 47) Better

8

; B Curry (for Willis, 36) Whirling dervish

8

; H Randall (for Mitchell, 60)

6

; E Daly (for Sleightholme, 45) Dangerous

7

Scotland

Blair Kinghorn

Rangy runner and looks dangerous when he carries the ball in both hands but for all that he threatened, he couldn’t deliver a telling blow.

7

Kyle Rowe

Picked clever lines and made some decent yardage but his high tackle on Chessum proved to be a costly mistake.

6

Huw Jones

Gave away an early penalty but recovered to score sixth Six Nations try against England and 16th overall. Always wriggling.

7

Tom Jordan

Silky stuff. Delightful pass inside to White for opening score but couldn’t quite make a telling break or pass after that for all his endeavour.

6

Duhan van der Merwe

Steamrollered into Marcus Smith a few times and had a hand in Scotland’s two first-half tries. Seemed to be playing on fast forward at times and finally got his score.

8

Finn Russell (co-capt)

Given plenty of time which made him a constant threat. Struggled to completely carve England open. Missed three conversions including the all important one.

6

Ben White

On hand to score opening try and provided Russell with plenty of clean ball. Zippy scrum-half who will fancy his British & Irish Lions chances. 

6

Pierre Schoeman

Had a hard time in the scrum up against Stuart. Made some carries in heavy traffic up the middle though and didn’t disappoint in that regard.

5

Dave Cherry

Unheralded member of an unheralded front row but did little wrong, getting through lots of work and hitting his darts. 

7

Zander Fagerson

Came off second best to Genge at scrum time and will have liked to have done his British & Irish Lions chances more good than this. 

6

Jonny Gray

Scotland ran an impressive lineout, full of unusual plays, and the former Exeter lock played his part in that. Solid. 

6

Grant Gilchrist

Might have taken the “weedy” forwards accusation personally. Excellent both sides of the ball and an important lineout figure too.

7

Jamie Ritchie (Man of the match)

Excellent all-round performance from Scotland’s action man, winning turnovers, defending mauls and showing up well in the lineout.

8

Rory Darge (co-capt)

Not as conspicuous as his fellow back-rowers. Got through plenty of work but the Currys had his number at the breakdown. 

6

Jack Dempsey

Started the match with a strong carry and continued in that vein thereafter. Tough as teak and did not take a backwards step before being replaced.

7

REPLACEMENTS

E Ashman (for Cherry, 54) Ticked things over

7

; J Bhatti (for Schoeman, 69)

6

; W Hurd (for Z Fagerson, 77) n/a; S Skinner (for Gray, 60) Hit hard

6

; G Brown (for Gilchrist, 69)

5

; M Fagerson (for Dempsey, 54) Got stuck in

7

; J Dobie (for White, 65) Not as much tempo

5

; S McDowall (for Jones, 65) Dazzling break

7