Van der Merwe punishes England once again
EDINBURGH - Duhan van der Merwe scored a superb hat-trick as Scotland beat England 3021 at Murrayfield on Saturday to claim a fourth successive championship win in the fixture for the first time since 1896 and reignite their Six Nations campaign.
The winger, who scored two tries at Twickenham last season, cut through England’s defence again as the Scots bounced back impressively from their heart-breaking defeat by France two weeks ago.
“I can’t believe it to be honest, but I have to thank the boys for giving me the opportunity,” Van der Merwe said. “To get my first hat-trick against England is unbelievable.”
Scotland, who suffered an agonising defeat by France two weeks ago, are second in the Six Nations standings on nine points behind Ireland on 15. They face Italy in Rome before finishing in Dublin.
“To show that resilience to come back and then score 30 points shows what this team is capable of,” said coach Gregor Townsend. “There is improvement to do and we want to get to the final week with an opportunity to still be in the championship.”
Scotland have now won five and drawn one of their last seven Calcutta Cup games – having not managed a win in the previous 10.
England, third on eight points, host Ireland in two weeks before playing France away in the final game of the tournament and are in danger of winning only two games for the fourth year in a row.
“Today was not good enough, we wanted to win and we didn’t,” said coach Steve Borthwick. Now we have two weeks to build to Ireland and we will make sure we are better.”
Other result: Ireland 31-7 Wales