Duhan van der Merwe inflicted yet more pain on England on Saturday with a superb hat-trick of tries as Scotland came from behind to win 30-21 in the Six Nations at Murrayfield.
Scotland were 10-0 down early on but, inspired by their dashing wing, they bounced back with a third-round win that ended England’s bid for a Grand Slam.
Victory meant Scotland have won four Six Nations games in a row over England for the first time since the late 19th century, and not since 1972 had Scotland reeled off four straight wins over their oldest rivals.
Photo: Reuters
Scotland, in retaining the Calcutta Cup, rebounded from an agonizing loss to France and put themselves back in title contention with two wins from three games after they started with a 27-26 defeat of Wales in Cardiff. The 28-year-old Van der Merwe has now scored 26 tries in 37 Tests, leaving him one try short of Stuart Hogg’s all-time Scotland record.
Saturday’s treble also meant Van der Merwe has scored six tries in his past four games against England alone.
“I can’t believe it to be honest,” Van der Merwe told the BBC. “I have never scored a hat-trick against England, but I have to thank the boys for giving me the opportunity... I guess I am just the lucky one to finish them off.”
England coach Steve Borthwick praised a “very strong” Scotland performance, but also rued his new-look side’s mistakes.
“You saw some aspects of our game step forward today, but there were too many handling errors, and if you turn over that much ball it is very difficult to win a Test match against a quality Scotland team,” he said.
In Saturday’s other game, Ireland beat Wales 31-7 in a sometimes sloppy performance at Lansdowne Road. They now need two wins to secure unprecedented back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slams.
A late Tadhg Beirne try secured a bonus-point win for the hosts, whose 11th successive Six Nations victory equaled the record set by England between 2015-2017.
“Getting a bonus point at the end is always good. We were pretty ill-disciplined, we weren’t happy with how we performed today,” Ireland center Bundee Aki told Welsh broadcaster S4C.
“We knew we would be under the pump a number of times, we knew we had to stick to the process to weather the storm,” he added.
Ireland play England in a fortnight, while Wales will be looking for their first win in this year’s tournament at home to France.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to