England
Marcus Smith Tested out aerially early on and given a torrid time by Duhan van der Merwe. Shanked clearance kick but scored his goals. Slightly more dangerous after break. 6
Tommy Freeman Strong finish for England’s first try after already showing skills under high ball. Van der Merwe gave him plenty to think about though. 7
Ollie Lawrence Might have done better with attempted tackle on Van der Merwe. Quiet until his break up middle but did he have to go for offload? 7
Henry Slade Some excellent covering tackles and as leader of the defence he has to take credit with the way England hung in there in the first half. 8
Ollie Sleightholme Struggled to make an impact in the first half given Scotland had so much of the ball. Chased kicks but that isn’t really his game. Hooked early. 6
Fin Smith Kicked a lot from hand – so much so it provoked a few groans – but showed his defensive capabilities with huge tackle on Jordan. Ultimately the match-winner again. 7
Alex Mitchell Ponderous and kicked far too often for the Twickenham crowd’s liking. Bizarre as he was imperious against France but taken off after an hour here. 6
Ellie Genge Another strong scrummaging performance and relished the physical stuff, thundering on to the Scottish defence. Made his tackles too. 7
Luke Cowan-Dickie Chop tackle on Pierre Schoeman had Twickenham wincing; he brought typical aggression during his 47 minutes of action. 7
Will Stuart It has largely gone unnoticed but he has developed into one of England’s most reliable and consistent performers. A Lion in waiting. 8
Maro Itoje Did his best to disrupt Scotland’s lineout and made an impressively acrobatic turnover. Chalk this up as another notch for England’s captain. 8
Ollie Chessum Big tackle on Grant Gilchrist, big clearout on Zander Fagerson – a big impact on his first start for 11 months. Discipline wasn’t great but kept soldering on. Impressive. 7
Tom Curry Hip constantly bothering him but another heroic showing before hobbling off in agony. Scotland might have been out of sight by half-time if not for his efforts. 7
Ben Earl A couple of overzealous penalties given away after making it clear in the buildup that he was fired up for this one. Linked well with Marcus Smith. 7
Tom Willis Injured shoulder in some friendly fire from Genge and made way shortly before half-time. A few surges, a few meaty tackles up until then. 6
REPLACEMENTS
J George (for Cowan-Dickie, 45) Big impact 8; F Baxter (for Genge, 58) Super sub 7; J Heyes (for Stuart, 71) Rolled up sleeves 7; T Hill (for Chessum, 80) n/a; C Cunningham-South (for T Curry, 47) Better 8; B Curry (for Willis, 36) Whirling dervish 8; H Randall (for Mitchell, 60) 6; E Daly (for Sleightholme, 45) Dangerous 7
Scotland
Blair Kinghorn Rangy runner and looks dangerous when he carries the ball in both hands but for all that he threatened, he couldn’t deliver a telling blow. 7
Kyle Rowe Picked clever lines and made some decent yardage but his high tackle on Chessum proved to be a costly mistake. 6
Huw Jones Gave away an early penalty but recovered to score sixth Six Nations try against England and 16th overall. Always wriggling. 7
Tom Jordan Silky stuff. Delightful pass inside to White for opening score but couldn’t quite make a telling break or pass after that for all his endeavour. 6
Duhan van der Merwe Steamrollered into Marcus Smith a few times and had a hand in Scotland’s two first-half tries. Seemed to be playing on fast forward at times and finally got his score. 8
Finn Russell (co-capt) Given plenty of time which made him a constant threat. Struggled to completely carve England open. Missed three conversions including the all important one. 6
Ben White On hand to score opening try and provided Russell with plenty of clean ball. Zippy scrum-half who will fancy his British & Irish Lions chances. 6
Pierre Schoeman Had a hard time in the scrum up against Stuart. Made some carries in heavy traffic up the middle though and didn’t disappoint in that regard. 5
Dave Cherry Unheralded member of an unheralded front row but did little wrong, getting through lots of work and hitting his darts. 7
Zander Fagerson Came off second best to Genge at scrum time and will have liked to have done his British & Irish Lions chances more good than this. 6
Jonny Gray Scotland ran an impressive lineout, full of unusual plays, and the former Exeter lock played his part in that. Solid. 6
Grant Gilchrist Might have taken the “weedy” forwards accusation personally. Excellent both sides of the ball and an important lineout figure too. 7
Jamie Ritchie (Man of the match) Excellent all-round performance from Scotland’s action man, winning turnovers, defending mauls and showing up well in the lineout. 8
Rory Darge (co-capt)Not as conspicuous as his fellow back-rowers. Got through plenty of work but the Currys had his number at the breakdown. 6
Jack Dempsey Started the match with a strong carry and continued in that vein thereafter. Tough as teak and did not take a backwards step before being replaced. 7
REPLACEMENTS
E Ashman (for Cherry, 54) Ticked things over 7; J Bhatti (for Schoeman, 69) 6; W Hurd (for Z Fagerson, 77) n/a; S Skinner (for Gray, 60) Hit hard 6; G Brown (for Gilchrist, 69) 5; M Fagerson (for Dempsey, 54) Got stuck in 7; J Dobie (for White, 65) Not as much tempo 5; S McDowall (for Jones, 65) Dazzling break 7
