"Referee will make the calls" – Steve Borthwick and Maro Itoje react to narrow win over Scotland
Yesterday at 04:29 PM
England now have back to back wins in the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, as Steve Borthwick’s side held on to beat Scotland by the skin of their teeth. England led 16-10 into the final moments of the match, before Scottish powerhouse Duhan van der Merwe scored in the corner, for what looked like a saving grace for the visiting side.
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However, Scotland fly half Finn Russell would send the following conversion wide of the mark, with England gifted the lead as the match entered the final minute. England were then able to hold on to the win, for a monstrous ovation at the Allianz Stadium when the final whistle was blown.
Maro Itoje then became the first England player to lift the Calcutta Cup since 2020, as after four years of hurt, England ended Scotland’s four year winning streak in the fixture. England head coach Steve Borthwick was flanked by his captain Maro Itoje after the match, and addressed the media following their win.
5 TALKING POINTS: ENGLAND 16-15 SCOTLAND – 2025 SIX NATIONS
1. Steve Borthwick keeps to the point when discussing Tommy Freeman’s controversial try
The England head coach gave a very matter of fact verdict, when asked for his thoughts on Tommy Freeman’s try. The Northampton Saints man powered over for a try after just eight minutes, however there were plenty of question marks regarding the grounding of the ball. There was no clear and obvious angle of the ball on the deck, with Scotland’s coaching staff understandably unhappy to see the try given.
STEVE BORTHWICK: “No, (I’ve) not looked at it, the referee will make the calls on the pitch.”
No margin for interpretation from the England head coach, despite the controversy around the Northampton Saints man’s score. Tommy Freeman spoke to the media after the match, and by all accounts went quite the shade of red, as he spoke about the promptness of the referee’s decision.
TOMMY FREEMAN: "The referee awarded it, therefore I grounded it, so…"
"I think, well, as much as the referee saw at the end of the day. He awarded it so that's the end of it and I'm not going to say anything different."
"Yes you can (ask me about the try). Referee said I got it down, I got it down." Freeman added. "I felt like it went on the ground. So yeah, it went on the ground…"
“More of his hair may fall out” – Itoje jokes at stressing out Steve Borthwick with tight wins
This is the second tight win for England, with the nerves of the Allianz Stadium faithful well tested within recent weeks. The win against France saw England battle back from conceding a 76th minute try, as Louis Biellie-Biarrey crossed over in the late stages. Elliot Daly’s try and Fin Smith’s subsequent conversion sealed a dramatic win a fortnight ago, with another nail-biting win witnessed in South West London.
Duhan van der Merwe looked to have broken English hearts with his 78th minute try, as the titanic wing shrugged off a tackle attempt to dot the ball down in the corner. However, fate would once again swing England’s way, as Finn Russell missed his third consecutive conversion, for an unwanted hat-trick of costly missed kicks. England captain Maro Itoje joked that his team is causing Borthwick some untold stress, with the already bald head coach set to lose what’s left of his hair.
MARO ITOJE: “They’re good experiences for the team to go through. The growth of this team, we’ve been on the end of some negative results, tight in the last moments of games. Now we’re I guess finding a way to win these tight exchanges. All these experiences build the character of the team and hopefully we can keep on building, but it would be nice if it wasn’t so narrow at the end. We’ll work hard to perhaps make it a little bit easier for Steve. I think some -more – of Steve’s hair might fall off if we keep doing this!”
3. Injury updates on Tom Willis and Tom Curry as England hit with back row double blow
STEVE BORTHWICK: Tom Curry has a dead leg. He took it early in the game, and he’s such a tough, brave competitor, and he kept going, and eventually just became too… shortly after halftime, became too uncomfortable.
“I had to take him off the pitch. Tom Willis was removed with an HIA (Head Injury Assessment). So both players, will be… we expect Tom curry to be, that dead leg, as dead legs do it’d be few days it will settle down, It’ll be good. And Tom Willis is now in the care of the medical staff.”
4. Harry Randall and Chandler Cunningham-South’s impact off the bench boosted England
STEVE BORTHWICK: “Those decisions (substitutions) are always a feel. We speak a lot around the impact of the bench. I thought they were very good in that second half today and added a whole lot of impact. I think we’ve got good players. We have the makings of what is going to be a very good team and experiences like today, 23-man efforts like today, will really help us.”
5. Borthwick explains the need for England to stay on the right side of the referee as penalties prove crucial
STEVE BORTHWICK: "In a game like that it is essential. In a game like that when the ball is in the middle of the field and both teams are trying to find an avenue to open up and get access into the opposition 22 you need to minimise that by discipline. We have won the penalty count in two of the three games in the Six Nations and we won the count in three of the four games in the autumn series.
“Discipline is strong and it is seriously led by the captain. There are areas we want to improve and we need to against a team like Italy. They are a team not dissimilar to that, they kick the ball, have low phase count and kick a lot of contestable kicks which means the discipline is crucial.”
EDITOR’S PICKS
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