Was it pluck or luck that took England to victory over Scotland? The wheel of fortune has certainly spun. England generally played well across 2024 yet found themselves coming out on the wrong side of results; in these last two rounds of the Six Nations, they have been outclassed for significant periods yet ended up just about on the right side of the ledger.
This was, Steve Borthwick admitted afterwards, not a performance of which England could be entirely proud. With Scotland forcing them to stray from their strategy, most of their attacking ambition was tempered – Twickenham’s boos may have eventually turned to cheers but there were times when the Allianz Stadium crowd made their disapproval perfectly clear.
