Scotland target England glory after Wales victory
edinburgh — Scotland aim to keep rolling back the years by defeating England at Twickenham for the first time since 1983, after beating Wales for the first time in a decade.
Vern Cotter’s side scored 20 unanswered after the break at Murrayfield on Saturday as a 13-9 interval deficit was transformed into a 29-13 victory, their first against Wales since 2007.
Second-half tries by wings Tommy Seymour and Tim Visser, plus five penalties and two conversions by stand-off Finn Russell, mean the Scots on March 11 have the chance to complete a first Triple Crown since their Grand Slam in 1990. Victory over England would also leave Scotland with a shot at a first Six Nations title since 1999 heading into the final weekend of the tournament.
“We’re on a roll,” acknowledged Cotter, whose team achieved Scotland’s first opening-round victory in 11 years with a 27-22 home success against Ireland, before suffering a 22-16 loss to France in Paris.
“We know how hard Twickenham is,” the Scotland coach said. “It may be the record game for England. There’ll be a lot of things to play for, I think.”
Should England beat Italy at home on Sunday, they would go into the Calcutta Cup contest with a chance of equalling New Zealand’s world record of 18 consecutive wins. “We believe we can beat England if we play like we did in the second-half,” said flanker John Barclay,stand-in captain in place of the injured Greig Laidlaw.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been here taking about a win over Wales, so hats off to the players,” said Cotter, whose side finish the Championship with a home game against Italy on March 18.
“We weren’t particularly wellpositioned at half-time but the players adjusted well in the second half. —