Van der Merwe stars despite late sin bin as Scotland beat England again

Scotland 30-21 England

MURRAYFIELD — It’s not often a player disappointedly trotting to the sin bin is hailed a hero, but Duhan van der Merwe received a wildly celebratory standing ovation and was announced as man of the match as he left the Murrayfield turf.

Van der Merwe tip-tackled England’s Tommy Freeman two minutes before the end, but it will be for a stupendous hat-trick of tries that the big South African-born wing is remembered here.

And for the Scots overall, this is a fourth win in a row over England for the first time since the early 70s, if you include the friendly centenary international in 1971, or since 1896 if only Championship matches are counted.

Either way, exultation for the Scots, who did a comprehensive job on their oldest enemies, out of which Van der Merwe was the most obvious beneficiary thanks to his power, pace and finishing prowess.

The South African-born wing now has six tries in four matches against England and his career total of 26 is one behind Stuart Hogg’s all-time Scotland record.

Neither side can now win the Six Nations Grand Slam for which Ireland remain favourites. The Irish go to Twickenham next, in a fortnight’s time.

But Scotland wanted this victory badly, for all sorts of reasons, including just being pipped by a disallowed try against France here at Murrayfield last time out.

“It just shows you where we’re going,” Van der Merwe said of his side’s continued retention of the Calcutta Cup, while in a Six Nations context, Scotland could yet win the title if they can beat Italy and Ireland.

England had opened in positive style with a terrific single-phase try from a scrum in the fifth minute.

The key for the score by George Furbank on his recall at full-back was Scotland buying the dummy runs from Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade and allowing Danny Care to make ground on the shoulder of Ben Earl. George Ford and Elliot Daly – off his wing – then swept left to right to put Furbank in.

Ford’s conversion and subsequent penalty had England 10-0 up, and Scotland were hardly in the opening quarter.

Before this match, i had analysed the various ways the Scotland backs love to attack from a set-piece – and they ripped England’s new blitz defence apart in the 20th minute.

You can use a man by not using him, and in this case it was Finn Russell ghosting behind the front line from a scrum that spooked England.

Slade and Daly pushed up and in, and Slade probably had half an eye on an out-the-back pass to Russell, but instead Scotland kept it simple, going long from scrum-half Ben White to Sione Tuipulotu, and then Tuipulotu sent his centre partner Huw Jones surging through the gap left by Slade stepping up too far.

That left Freeman and Furbank scrambling back for England, but Jones was able to offload to Van der Merwe, who had been roving across behind Russell for just such a chance.

On 28 minutes there was a shout of “go on Du” from the Scotland coaches seated behind the press benches, the instant Van der Merwe caught the ball from Huw Jones’s pass.

The ball had bounced straight to Jones from a Ford pass that ricocheted off Furbank, and while there were still 65 metres to go to the goalline, and not much room to play with near the touchline, those coaches knew what Van der Merwe is capable of.

He rounded Earl with ease and sidestepped the despairing Slade for a superb run-in.

Russell added the conversion and a 35th-minute penalty. The fly-half would go on to maintain his 100 per cent goal-kicking record in this Six Nations.

And with the home crowd catcalling when Ford dropped a goal for England from 35 metres, for Scotland to lead 17-13 at the break, it had been a fun first period of “Du”, boos and the occasional “Shoo!” for the carries of cult-hero Scotland prop Pierre Schoeman.

Van der Merwe only had to stay alert for his hat-trick try, four minutes into the second half, as he ran onto Russell’s cross-kick in loads of space after Cameron Redpath – on for the limping Tuipulotu – had made a line break up the middle.

A penalty by Ford to two by Russell made it 30-16, and England’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, went for broke from the bench as a first reverse of the year after the narrow wins over Italy and Wales loomed.

Fin Smith and Manny Feyi-Waboso came on for Ford and Slade, with Freeman moved to outside centre.

And within five minutes Feyi-Waboso had his first Test try, sprinting onto replacement scrum-half Ben Spencer’s pass from a ruck.

But a late pass thrown by Lawrence into touch, way beyond Earl’s grasp, summed up England’s disjointed day.

Borthwick’s post-World Cup rebuild after a tranche of retirements and other withdrawals had hit a predictable speed-bump of better opposition, on the road.