Former England coach Clive Woodward said Gregor Townsend can achieve “great things” with Scotland after masterminding their stunning defeat of the Six Nations holders on Saturday.
Scotland ended their 38-year wait for a win at Twickenham in emphatic style with an 11-6 victory to claim the Calcutta Cup.
“It’s a game-changing win for Scotland as a team and a huge moment for Townsend. He is the coach who will lead Scotland to great things and this will kickstart that process,” Woodward wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.
England conceded 15 penalties, including 10 inside the first 35 minutes, and Woodward said that lack of discipline was a worrying sign for Eddie Jones’s side.
“In 2020 they averaged nine penalties conceded per game … in the previous two Calcutta Cup encounters they conceded only 11 penalties in total yet in this game they had clocked that up before halftime,” he wrote.
“It was ridiculous and … undermined everything they were trying to do.”
Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio described the performance as one of the worst he had seen and questioned the mindset of Jones’ players.
“England looked clueless. Not just for parts of it, all game,” he wrote in the Times.
“I don’t know whether that’s down to the fact that a number of key players hadn’t played for eight weeks or whether everyone just had an off day. Whatever the cause, it’s got to be sorted out quickly because that was as bad as it gets.”
England next host Italy on Saturday while Scotland entertain Wales.
Reuters