EDINBURGH, Scotland - Scotland’s first opening day, Six Nations win since 2006 not only underlined the side’s improvement under outgoing head coach Vern
Cotter but it also saw them close the gap on South Africa in the World Rugby Rankings to just two-hundredths of a rating point.
A win away to France in Paris this weekend would see them leapfrog the Springboks into sixth place, matching their highest-ever position, while also strengthening their bid to be in the second band of seeds - for nations ranked fifth to eighth - when the Rugby World Cup 2019 pool draw takes place in Kyoto on May 10.
Stuart Hogg’s brace of tries, Alex Dunbar’s cheeky line-out score and 12 points from the unerring boot of captain and scrum-half Greig Laidlaw together with a Herculean defensive effort, which saw them make 213 tackles, earned the Scots a 27-22 win at Murrayfield and a fraction over one rating point, taking them on to 81.77 points overall.
Should Scotland keep this momentum up, a place in the top four - and a band one position - is not out of the question.
For now, Ireland stay fourth but the loss of 1.10 points allayed to Wales’ 0.44 of a point gain for beating Italy, means Joe Schmidt’s side are nervously looking over their shoulders. Only 0.54 of a point now separates the 2015 Six Nations champions from the Red
Dragons.
It was impossible for
England to improve their rankings position, whatever the result against France with a 10.33 point and six-place difference between the sides, and all the focus was on whether they could achieve a record 15 consecutive Test wins.
That they did was thanks to Ben Te’o and his fellow ‘finishers’, as Eddie Jones likes to call his replacements.
Up until that point France had caused a misfiring
England no end of problems, with Camille Lopez threatening to kick Les Bleus to victory at Twickenham for the first time since fellow left-footer Dimitri Yachvili achieved the feat in 2006.
Three first half strikes from Lopez were cancelled out by two from Owen Farrell and a monster, 51m penalty from Elliot Daly for a 9-9 half-time scoreline that did a disservice to France’s dominance.
Daly thought he’d scored the first try of the game shortly after the restart once England finally found some fluency in their attacking game but the TMO correctly ruled his foot had brushed the touchline.
Instead, it was France who crossed first, replacement prop Rabah Slimani silencing the Twickenham crowd with a try near the posts to put Les Bleus 16-12 up, after Farrell had temporarily given England the lead with his third penalty.
England’s bid to make history was in danger of going off the rails until Te’o got them over the line.