6N: England v Scotland: Scotland player ratings

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Yesterday at 06:01 PM

15. Blair Kinghorn – 6

I don't know if I've ever mentioned on this platform how the misuse of the word "mercurial" really annoys me. I've seen people call Lionel Messi "mercurial". Dude literally won every individual and collective award his sport offers, often. Decades of consistent excellence is not "mercurial", Blair Kinghorn is. The embodiment of the Scotland team, there’s spells where he does everything right, then he’ll throws offloads at faces; start losing aerial battles and get too ‘Finn Russell-chill’. Needs to up his D-game. [Marcus Smith – 6]

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14. Kyle Rowe – 7

Darcy Graham is almost inimitable, but Kyle Rowe does the best imitation. (Better kicker.) Similar to Graham in his seeming bloodlust to go forward at all costs, he would have walked into Scotland teams of 20 years ago. Did himself proud, and staked a claim for a 23 jersey once Graham gets back. (Not convinced about the benefits of a 6-2 split.) [Tommy Freeman – 6]

13. Huw Jones – 8

Every game makes me a bit sadder Sione Tuipulotu isn't playing, but it reminds us how good Huw Jones is. I will gladly pick an argument with anyone who thinks there's a better outside-centre – at least in attack – in the world. [Ollie Lawrence – 7]

12. Tom Jordan – 7

Seemed more confident than last week, although that's probably because he didn't get shifted position early. Some good driving runs and distributed well enough, took a big double-hit which coughed good possession up once, and pulled a Finn Russell by sticking Stafford McDowall into space at the end for what could have been a delicious winner. [Henry Slade – 7]

11. Duhan van der Merwe – 8

The tastiest of the low-hanging fruit for some of our friends in the English press – they would maybe not get so angry if they stopped giving him the ball exactly where he wants it. Richard Cockerill had warned them about it two years ago, on top of his metres he did a really good bit of cover defence at the end of the first half to deny England a try. [Ollie Sleightholme – 6]

10. Finn Russell – 6

Should have nailed at least one of those conversions. Semi-difficult, but to go 0/3 was a killer, and kicking to touch wasn't great. Some lovely passing during the good spells and tries, defence is excellent now, but clutch kicks have to go where needed. [Fin Smith – 8]

9. Ben White – 7

I’ve been sat on the fence so long about this guy I have skelfs in my arse. Good try off a lovely move – he runs a good support line – but didn't think he exited as well as versus Italy, but passed better than he did versus Ireland, and maybe it's just me being greedy, but I want a bit more zip and potential for line-breaks. [Alex Mitchell – 6]

1. Pierre Schoeman – 5

Scrum was getting pinged – rightly or wrongly – but he provided a little in the loose to counter it. [Ellis Genge – 6]

2. Dave Cherry – 7

Solid darts all day, performed just fine. Work-rate was impressive. [Luke Cowan-Dickie – 6]

3. Zander Fagerson – 6

First half he was doing some of the heaviest quarry-lifting when Scotland should have scored more points given their territorial advantage, wasn't getting anything at scrum-time and influence faded as time passed. [Will Stuart – 6]

4. Jonny Gray – 6

Looked more energetic and limber than the "break glass because every other lock is more broken" Jonny Gray than of last two weeks. Some decent mauling and he has a surprisingly good pass on him when forced to shovel one out of a ruck, but he's not making any game-changing impact. [Maro Itoje – 7]

5. Grant Gilchrist – 6

Him and Dave Cherry work well, the line-out went pretty well. I am getting bored of saying he's really good at that but little else, but he was getting a seven because without nuts and bolts, everything else fails. ThenI checked my notes and remembered a stupid penalty he gave away. [Ollie Chessum – 6]

6. Jamie Ritchie – 8

Turnover after turnover, bursting into breakdowns, getting under mauls; really earned his place ahead of Matt Fagerson. [Tom Curry – 8]

7. Rory Darge – 6

Seemed to be the party-smasher in tandem with Ritchie in the first-half, influenced seemed to wane in second. If you can put him in space he's rapid, seems to be mostly used as a defensive lynchpin. [Ben Earl – 7]

8. Jack Dempsey – 6

Couple of good carries, hit his breakdowns and rarely misses a tackle, but he's still on the road to match-fitness and wasn't able to do anything to change the outcome. Didn't seem the designated kick-receipt guy, which was a bit odd because he usually takes them and goes looking for someone to smash. [Tom Willis – 6/Ben Curry – 8]

Replacements:

16. Ewan Ashman – 4

Darts were sketchy, tried a ridiculous offload with Scotland in good position, gave away a costly penalty with an unnecessary obstruction.

17. Jamie Bhatti – 5

Late replacement for Rory Sutherland, and only got 10 minutees to try and do something

18. Will Hurd – 4

It's hard being Zander's understudy. You don't get time to prove you can do anything.

19. Sam Skinner – 4

Mind when he was POTM on his international debut? And Rob Baxter said he was possibly a No 8? Wild times.

20. Gregor Brown – 4

No time for impact

21. Matt Fagerson – 6

Came on and had a bit of breakdown bash, nothing game-changing

22. Jamie Dobie – 5

Recycled sharply and causes more concern around edges than White.

23. Stafford McDowall – 6

Memories of Sam Johnson in 2019 as the unheralded-est of Warriors' centres galloped through to assist Duhan's last minute potential game-winner.

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