Scots wary of tough England

Edinburgh – Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend (above) warned his players they face “the huge challenge” of taking on “probably the best team in the world” in their next Six Nations clash.

In the wake of a hard-fought 32-26 victory over France at Murrayfield, Scotland will entertain England in two weeks’ time.

Thanks largely to six second-half penalties by returning scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw, Scotland overcame a 20-14 half-time deficit to bounce back from their 34-7 opening-day thrashing against Wales in Cardiff and kickstart their Six Nations campaign.

Laidlaw, who plays in France for Clermont, also converted firsthalf tries by wing Sean Maitland and centre Huw Jones for a personal tally of 22 points against a France side who looked in control after two tries in the opening 26 minutes by wing Teddy Thomas.

However, second-half indiscipline and the deadly accuracy of Scotland’s No 9 left them on a run of eight matches without a victory heading into the Marseille clash with Italy next Friday.

Scotland face England at Murrayfield the following day and Townsend said: “That’s going to be a huge challenge. We’re playing against arguably the best team in the world over the last two years, given the amount of games they’ve won – a team that’s very consistent, very tough to beat.

“They have shown they can find a way to win more often than not and we’ve got to give our best game. We’ve got to really put them under pressure for 80 minutes and we’ll see what happens after that.” –