Van der Merwe onslaught undoes England again

Duhan van der Merwe scored a superb hat-trick as Scotland beat England 30-21 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 heartbreaking defeat by France two weeks ago.

“I can’t believe it, 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 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, ” coach Gregor Townsend said.

“There is an 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 the last seven Calcutta Cup games — having not won 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 consecutive year.

“Today was not good enough, we wanted to win and we didn’t,” coach Steve Borthwick said. “Now we have two weeks to build to Ireland and we will make sure we are better.”

England led after five minutes when fullback George Furbank showed why he was selected ahead of Freddie Steward, joining the line to collect a pass from Elliot Daly and dot down.

But Scotland — via England’s nemesis Van der Merwe — somehow struck twice from nowhere to forge ahead. The big winger added his third from a fine Finn Russell cross-kick.

“I don’t see many issues with how we played in the first half. We were a little loose with how we handed the ball over,” England captain Jamie George said.

“If you give the ball to Duhan van der Merwe and Finn Russell you know they can create a bit of magic.”/Reuters