England Vs Scotland Player Ratings After England Win Back Calcutta Cup In Edgy Six Nations Contest

Here are our England Vs Scotland player ratings as England narrowly beat Scotland 16-15 in the Six Nations on Saturday.

England Vs Scotland Player Ratings

England:

15 – Marcus Smith: 6

Didn’t get the England attack going much, but was involved in the Ollie Lawrence break that almost led to a try on the stroke of half time.

Performed okay, but get the sense he’d still much rather be playing at fly-half.

14 – Tommy Freeman: 7

Once again superb in the air and scored England’s one and only try. A quiet day otherwise, but it’s difficult to impact the game as a winger when nobody es you the ball.

13 – Ollie Lawrence: 7

If his back-door offload had found Ollie Sleightholme instead of Row Z, we’d have been discussing one of the tries of the tournament.

One of the few positives for England in attack this Six Nations, a danger every time he touched the ball.

12 – Henry Slade: 5

Struggled defensively again and is not performing at the level we know he can. Capable of so much more than he’s shown so far this tournament.

11 – Ollie Sleightholme: 5

Got away with some poor defending against but was repeatedly exposed by the Scottish backs. Must improve if he wants to become a regular test starter.

10 – Fin Smith: 8

Nailed the all important long-range kick and made more tackles than anybody else on the field.

Wasn’t able to attack much but it seems that Borthwhick’s gameplan is to boot the ball away after three phases, so can’t blame Smith for that.

9 – Alex Mitchell: 6

Like club teammate Smith, it feels like Mitchell is being asked to play far more conservatively than he’s suited to.

Box kicking was below his usual level and meant Scotland weren’t put under enough pressure aerially.

1 – Ellis Genge: 7

Has massively improved his scrummaging over the last season or so. Always known for his immense work in the loose, but he dominated Fagerson at set piece.

2 – Luke Cowan-Dickie: 6

Another solid shift, with great darts in the lineout. Didn’t stand out much in open play but far from a bad performance.

3 – Will Stuart: 7

Quietly scrumming his way into Lions contention, the Bath tighthead also got the better of his opposite number and worked hard around the park.

4 – Maro Itoje: 8

Playing right on the razor edge as always, he got just about on the right side of the referee on Saturday.

Growing into the captaincy with every game and led from the front, especially in defence.

5 – Ollie Chessum: 7

Brought in to sort out England’s lineout and did exactly that. A huge 80 minutes from the Leicester lock, who got through an immense amount of work – including chasing back in the final minute to prevent Stafford McDowall scoring under the posts and giving Scotland an easy kick to win it.

6 – Tom Curry: 6

Went off early and appeared to be struggling with his hip – a worrying sign for him and England fans.

Was excellent again before being replaced, and we hope it isn’t a recurrence of the issue which kept him out for an extended period.

7 – Ben Earl: 7

Always throws himself about in attack and defence. Adds some much-needed carrying ability to England’s pack, and has an almighty engine on him.

8 – Tom Willis: 6

Also came off before half time, but looked good and carried hard for the time he was on the field.

Replacements: 6

Ben Curry was outstanding off the bench once again, but the rest of England’s subs had little impact.

Elliot Daly sured up the defence in the wide channels after coming on, but most of the England bench was anonymous.