EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — A hat trick of tries by Duhan van der Merwe powered Scotland’s 30-21 win over England at Murrayfield to get back into the Six Nations title race on Saturday.
England’s first defeat left both teams with two wins after three rounds. Scotland rose to second and England dropped to third. Both are yet to meet unbeaten leader Ireland.
Scotland started as the favorite but had to come from 10-0 behind in a frantic match full of handling errors. England dominated territory but Scotland scored all three of its tries from its own half.
The South Africa-born Van der Merwe became the first Scot to score a hat trick against England in the Six Nations era. Zooming to 26 tries in his 37th Scotland test, Van der Merwe was only one try behind the Scotland all-time record held by Stuart Hogg, who retired last year.
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He finished the match in the sin-bin, but received a huge applause walking off after he was yellow-carded in the 79th minute for a reckless tackle.
“To show that resilience to come back and then score 30 points shows what this team is capable of,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said. “There is improvement to do and we want to get to the final week with an opportunity to still be in the championship.”
Van der Merwe’s finishing was complemented by Finn Russell off the tee. Russell went six for six at the posts, and he’s perfect in the tournament with 15 out of 15.
Scotland celebrations were muted as co-captains Russell and Rory Darge picked up the Calcutta Cup yet again. They are used to beating England, even though they last enjoyed four successive wins in 1973, and in the championship in 1896.
“We just had to do our job today,” Russell said. “The professionalism of everyone was brilliant.”
George Furbank, the surprise pick by England at fullback, and replacement back Immanuel Feyi-Waboso scored the visitors’ tries and George Ford tried to keep them close with 11 points, including a 35-meter drop goal.
“I thought the guys started well but the second quarter is where our errors went up and Scotland were able to score too easily, you can’t let them do that,” England coach Steve Borthwick said. “You saw some aspects of our game step forward today but there were too many handling errors.”
England dominated the first 20 minutes, including a try when the backs flooded the Scots and Ford expertly held his pass for Elliot Daly, who gave Furbank the try.
Ford converted and added a penalty for England to lead 10-0 after 15 minutes.
Its blitz defense was tagging Scots behind the gainline, but the defense was caught over-reaching in the 20th. Sione Tuipulotu sent midfield partner Huw Jones in the clear. Jones passed off the floor for Van der Merwe to dummy and score.
They combined again 10 minutes later. An England knock-on off Furbank’s head was gathered by Jones, who passed to Van der Merwe. From 60 meters out, the wing stepped No. 8 Ben Earl and slipped Daly and was gone.
Russell followed his sideline conversion with a penalty, but Ford cut the margin with the drop goal.
Tuipulotu limped off seconds into the new half and was replaced by Cam Redpath, a Bath clubmate of Russell’s. Redpath counterattacked with a breakout from his own 22. Russell then crosskicked to an unmarked Van der Merwe, who received a kind bounce for his hat-trick try.
“I thank the boys for giving me the opportunity,” Van der Merwe said. “I’m just the lucky one to finish them off.
“I knew Finn was going to kick it to me. As he kicked it, I was just hoping to get a good bounce on the ball and luckily it bounced into my hands. First hat trick. I’m buzzing.”
Russell converted from wide out and kept up the scoreboard pressure with two more penalties.
Feyi-Waboso had been on the field just six minutes when he broke off a ruck near time to score his maiden test try. Finn Smith’s conversion attempt rebounded off the post, potentially costing England an important competition point.
England hosts Ireland in two weeks while Scotland goes to Italy.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby