Scottish Rugby

Edinburgh fans, what did you make of your side's performance in Cork as they bounced back from successive league defeats by Scarlets and Zebre?

Who stood out for you and are you now confident of a play-off spot?

Have your say on the match., external

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Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt tells Premier Sports: "Very pleased. We had to go back to the drawing board when you lose at home.

"Our set-piece functioned really well which allowed us to put pressure on them from a field position point of view, and I thought we were outstanding defensively tonight.

"We learned hard lessons against Zebre. Top four is probably a little bit ambitious, but certainly top eight.

"We don't often win away from home so this was a really good confidence builder for the team."

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Scotland international Adam Hastings will make his return from injury when Glasgow host Ospreys in the URC on Saturday.

The versatile back fractured his jaw playing against Scarlets in the autumn, and has missed the Six Nations as a result.

Hastings, 28, is named at full-back with Duncan Weir captaining the side from fly-half. Ben Afshar returns to the team at scrum-half, while Ollie Smith partners Duncan Munn in the centres.

Jare Oguntibeju - who signed his first professional contract with the club this week - starts in the second row, and JP du Preez could make his first appearance in 650 days having been selected among the replacements.

Defending champions Glasgow are second in the URC table, 10 points behind league-leaders Leinster.

Glasgow side to face Ospreys: Hastings, Cancelliere, Smith, Munn, Cordero, Weir, Afshar; Schickerling, Stewart, Richardson, Oguntibeju, Samuel, Ferrie, Venter, Mann.

Replacements: Matthews, McBeth, Talakai, Du Preez, Miller, Fraser, Kennedy, Johnston.

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer

At Twickenham on Saturday, Scotland went a full hour without scoring, from minute 19 to minute 79 when they almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Against Ireland in round two it took them 41 minutes to register their first points while also going scoreless for 26 minutes later in the game. In the Six Nations opener against Italy they scored their third try in the 28th minute and didn't score again until the 61st.

Going without points for such long periods in Six Nations games is not new for Scotland, but it's part of why they're running to stand still - or maybe even sliding backwards depending on what happens in the final two weekends.

Last season they didn't score after the 42nd minute against Wales (fine, they won, just about), didn't score for nearly 50 minutes against Italy (not fine, they lost) and went an hour without a score against Ireland in Dublin in a four-point match, which they also lost.

In 2023, they went vast chunks of time without scoring in defeats to France and Ireland. In 2022 they didn't score in the last 30 in a narrow loss in Cardiff, didn't score for 50 against France and didn't score for 33 and then 45 minutes against Ireland.

Apologies for the overload in numbers (more coming) but they're there to illustrate this is not new.

The subject of Scotland's attack came up on this week's BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast. In this championship, only France score the type of blistering tries that Scotland score, the one-phase wonders, the strikes from deep that have the stamp of genius upon them.

Scotland got three more of them at Twickenham, not that they provided any solace in the aftermath. The debate that should be had now centres around Scotland's one-track mind for the tryline and how they need to change their thinking.

It's in their DNA to turn down opportunities to kick for goal - drop-goals and penalties. They are all-in on attack. It's what makes them thrilling and deeply frustrating.

In 10 entries to England's 22 on Saturday they came away with zero points. Rugby is a game of psychology and pressure as much as anything else. Every repelled Scotland attack gave England belief.

It's past time that Scotland wisened up to their reality and brought an element of pragmatism and scoreboard pressure to their game.

In all those entries, what harm if they accepted once or twice that England's defence was strong, dropped into the pocket and took a drop goal, if they could? Get out of there with something instead of nothing.

Scotland, more than most, should do it because their breakdown has struggled (only France have conceded more turnovers) and their handling errors are the highest in the championship.

A bit of nous is required, some leadership, a voice to say, 'You know what, we're 10-7 ahead (as they were against England), this attack is petering out, we might lose the ball, so let's try a drop goal to make it 13-7 and 16-7 and put the pressure on them'.

It's easy to look aghast at the statistics from Twickenham and wonder how Scotland contrived to lose that game. Three tries to one in the visitors' favour was just the start of it.

More possession and territory than England, nearly seven more attacking minutes, more than double the number of ball carries, more than three times the number of defenders beaten, more than four times the number of linebreaks.

These are stats to make a Scot weep, but they're a familiar story. There was nothing unusual about them at all.

In the loss to Ireland, Scotland had 57% possession, they had 20.3 attacking minutes to Ireland's 15.2, they had more carries, more metres gained, more defenders beaten.

Ireland had to make more tackles, missed more tackles, conceded more penalties and lost four lineouts to Scotland's one. And yet they won easily because they were more powerful, more canny and more ruthless.

In last season's controversial four-point loss to France at Murrayfield, Scotland were ahead on nearly all of the stats - 21.9 attacking minutes versus 17.9 for the away winners.

The defeat to Italy in Rome showed similar trends. Scotland were ahead in loads of metrics. Italy had 17 attacking minutes, Scotland had 25.

We could go back to previous seasons and find Six Nations-wrecking losses that told the same story. Nobody wants Scotland to remove the ambition from their game. With this backline, you couldn't even if you tried. But there's an imbalance in the way they score and it's destructive.

Instead of a default set of going for touch from kickable penalty range, there are times when going for the posts is the sensible play.

With six minutes to go at Twickenham, Scotland had a penalty from very makeable range, even though Russell was off form with the placed ball. They went for touch, lost the lineout and exited with nothing.

Three points then would have made it 16-13. Given the outrageous skill-set in this Scotland backline, they'd have fancied their chances to score a winning try from that position. Wise after the event? Not really. They scored a late try to win at Twickenham two years ago.

And, of course, they scored late again on Saturday, but it wasn't enough this time, not when the conversion (from the incorrect spot, thanks to the referee) flew wide.

They wouldn't have needed it had some pragmatism entered their thinking in that 74th minute and in many of the attacking minutes that went before it.

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Sean Everitt has changed seven of his starting XV for the trip to Munster on Friday night after a humiliating defeat to Zebre left Edinburgh's URC play-off hopes hanging by a thread.

The South African head coach is boosted for the Cork visit by the return of co-captain Ben Vellacott and number eight Magnus Bradbury.

The only other change in the backline sees James Lang come in. However, as Emiliano Boffelli misses out with a hamstring problem, Matt Currie moves on to the wing.

In the forwards, Ewan Ashman is released from Scotland duty to start at hooker. He has come off the bench in every Six Nations match so far.

Paul Hill comes in at tighthead prop, Sam Skinner is into the second row, and Ben Muncaster joins Bradbury in the back row after a few weeks out with injury.

Ali Price drops to the bench, while Ben Healy misses out with a hip complaint. Cammy Scott takes up his spot among the replacements and could make just a second appearance of the season.

Dave Cherry, Grant Gilchrist, Darcy Graham, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe are all retained by the national team.

Edinburgh: Goosen, M Currie, Lang, Tuipulotu, McCann; Thompson, Vellacott (c); Venter, Ashman, Hill, Sykes, Skinner, Crosbie, Muncaster, Bradbury.

Replacements: Harrison, Hislop, Rae, Young, Watson, Price, C Scott, Bennett.

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Glasgow second-row Jare Oguntibeju has continued his incredible rise in professional rugby by committing his future to Scotstoun club, penning his first pro contract.

The 22-year-old has impressed hugely on his four outings so far, scoring against Toulon in the Champion Cup, having only joined the club on a pro contract in the summer.

Born in South Africa, the 6ft 8ins lock spent his childhood in Edinburgh and had a trial spell at the capital club before joining Ealing Trailfinders.

After picking up a bad knee injury playing for Scotland's Under-20s, he made his return playing in the Super Series for Stirling Wolves.

Before making his Glasgow bow, he also picked up a Scotland A cap in the game against Chile in November.

"I'm very grateful for the chance," Oguntibeju told club media. "I didn't expect it all to happen so soon after arriving, but I'm really proud to have the chance to represent this club.

"I've really enjoyed it – I didn't expect to play as much as I have, but I've been blessed with the opportunity and Franco and the coaches have shown great trust in me this season so far.

"Positionally, all the second-rowers have been huge for me, whether that's someone like Scott [Cummings] with my defence or Max [Williamson] with lineout detail. Guys like Henco [Venter], the Fagersons, the whole pack, too – it's like a real family group."

BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.

James asked: For a number of years the Scotland U20 team have been destroyed in the Six Nations. This year is maybe the worst. What is going wrong? How worried should we be for the future of the Scotland team? Is there a way to address this?

Tom answered: That's why David Nucifora is here as performance director. He's been given what seems like total power to reimagine the player pathway system from about the age of 15.

I hope he's serious about his business - he flies in and out of his native Australia - because the pathway system has let down years and years worth of young players.

They say the first step in solving a problem is accepting you have a problem. The SRU know their underage system is largely not fit for purpose. Hence, Nucifora.

Young players need a more professional set-up - better coaching, better strength and conditioning, more meaningful games. I think a lot of the Scottish U-20s in recent years have been badly let down.

David G asked: After losing the pivotal match against England - a game they should have won - are you now concerned Scotland's morale will be low and a revitalised Wales can win? How does Gregor Townsend lift Finn Russell and the players for this game?

Tom answered: I don't think morale will be low. Sadly, Scotland have been in this place before and have managed to bounce back, even though the bounce came too late to contend for a championship.

The Wales game has a whole different look now. It was an odds-on win before for Scotland, but the Welsh performance against Ireland was an eye-opener. Yes, it was driven by emotion and desperation, but that only partly explains why they were so good.

It explains the thunder of their forwards but the quality of their attack was on a different planet to anything we have seen from them in over a year. A new coaching voice who has put players in their natural positions did wonders against Ireland.

The question remains about Wales' ability to replicate that away from home. I still make Scotland favourites - they're hardly lacking in motivation themselves - but I suspect this will be closer than it might have been before Warren Gatland left. I think Scotland will win.

Grant asked: Considering how many foreign imports Ireland have in their 23, why does it seems only Scotland get flak for their so-called 'plastic players'?

Tom answered: Ireland get less grief for their 'foreign' players probably because they win things.

Not much is made of it, you're right. I guess when you win then you get to write the narrative. Bundee Aki, James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Finlay Bealham have all played an enormous part in Ireland's success.

Former captain Rory Lawson joins Tom English and Andy Burke to analyse Scotland's agonising Six Nations defeat by England and preview the upcoming game with Wales.

Listen and subscribe to the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast

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Former captain John Barclay is predicting a nervous atmosphere at Murrayfield a week on Saturday when Scotland take on Wales in the Six Nations.

After the tightest of losses to England, Scotland's best chance of a second win comes at home to resurgent Wales, as they finish with a trip to Paris to play in-form France.

"[Scotland v Wales] looks a bit different now, it's going to be tighter than we thought," Barclay told the Rugby Union Daily podcast. "From first two Wales games, there was no sign of anything to be concerned about.

"You watch the game at the weekend when they go toe to toe, physically and tactically, with one of the best teams in the world [Ireland]. Is it the bounce effect? I don't know, we'll see next weekend."

Wales, with interim head coach Matt Sherratt taking charge for the first time, looked far stronger in the defeat to Ireland than in previous losses to France and Italy.

"If Scotland lose to Wales, you're looking at one from five because they've got to go away to France," Barclay added.

"They've won over in France, they've shown it can be done, but you don't want to be going into the last round of the Six Nations with one win.

"The pressure is firmly on Scotland. Everyone says Scotland deserved to win [against England], but they didn't win and they didn't win against Ireland. Quite plainly, they have to win.

"It will be a nervous energy around the stadium. Wales are still underdogs, it's going to be fascinating."

Gregor Townsend has come under pressure in some quarters, but Barclay defended the Scotland head coach.

"There is pressure, there's always pressure. Someone said to me the other day 'he's got to go' and I'm like 'well who are you replacing him with?' Franco [Smith] has done great things at Glasgow, what's the guarantee that he gets better?

"You look at the game at the weekend, Gregor Townsend has done his job. He's put in place clearly how they were trying to play the game and they did it, except for final passes. I don't think that's a coaching thing."

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Finn flak unfair

As one of Scotland's few genuine global superstars, Finn Russell's performances are subject to a level of scrutiny reserved for only the top players.

When Scotland win, often the headlines speak to a Russell masterclass, even if his display has featured good moments and bad.

When Scotland lose, the fly-half, the team's chief creative force, is invariably a lightning rod for fierce criticism.

Russell missed the game-defining conversion from Duhan van der Merwe's 79th minute try, a tough kick, but one that he would expect to nail more times than not.

The missed conversion after Ben White's try was a far bigger error, but the focus on the three missed kicks, and the suggestion that Russell cost Scotland victory, has unfairly coloured reviews of the Bath man's performance.

He was instrumental in Scotland's attack cutting England open time and again in the first half, and the blame can't be laid at his door for the fumbles and sloppy breakdown work that prevented the Scots from converting the chances that would have put England away.

Scotland started losing the physical battle after the break and even the best 10s will struggle to guide their team to victory when their ball-carriers are being knocked backwards.

Those missed kicks were crucial, no question, but to suggest Russell had a poor game is wide of the mark, and those dismissing his credentials to be the Lions fly-half this summer off the back of it are overlooking, or forgetting, his quality.

Put Russell behind a Lions pack beside a Sione Tuipulotu or Bundee Aki and watch him shine.

Referee calls in the spotlight again

Speaking of that game-defining conversion, Russell's kick would have been easier had it been taken from the right mark.

As Russell lined up his kick, referee Pierre Brousset ordered him to move his tee two metres wide of the line where Van der Merwe touched down. It was an inexplicable decision in a crucial moment, and with the shot clock running, there was no time for Russell to argue the point.

The Television Match Officials seem very keen to involve themselves in Test matches these days, so why is Brousset not getting some help? A word in the ear to say," Pierre, the original tee position was just fine".

Several calls from Brousset had the Scotland fans up in arms, some justifiably so, some not. What is clear is match officials are too often having too big an influence on Test matches.

No referee should have to put up with personal abuse. The sport needs them. However, like players and coaches, their performances should be analysed in the proper way, and it felt like Brousset and his support team got a few calls wrong.

Another Six Nations slips away

It's wearily familiar territory for Scottish fans to be sitting after round three with their Six Nations dreams already down the pan.

In truth, the hopes of a promising campaign started to unravel the moment captain Sione Tuipulotu, such a totemic figure in this Scotland team, was ruled out of the tournament through injury before the opening round.

The injuries have piled up since and the Scottish squad depth, despite improving in recent years, has been exposed as too shallow to cope with five rounds of Six Nations battles.

For Gregor Townsend, the questions return about his ability to break this team through to the next level, namely being in the title hunt at the business end of the tournament.

After eight cracks at it, many feel he has taken the team as far as he can. Others feel with his limited resources and crippling injury list this time around, the head coach is being harshly judged against the expectations he has helped to create.

Former Scotland captain John Barclay told the BBC's Rugby Union Podcast he feels Townsend's position should not be under threat, but admitted that if Scotland lose to Wales in round four and are left staring at a campaign of one win from five, it may be time for a different conversation.

Scotland agonisingly missed out on another Calcutta Cup victory after a narrow Twickenham defeat.

Gregor Townsend's side now face another free weekend before facing Wales, at Murrayfield, on Saturday 8 March.

With that in mind, have you got any burning questions to put to our rugby writers Tom English and Andy Burke? Send them in via this link, external, and they will be answered on this page later in the week.

Thomas Duncan
BBC Sport Scotland

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Second row Grant Gilchrist says it "hurts" for Scotland to be out of Six Nations title contention after round three following the one-point defeat by England.

A bruising loss to Ireland and the loss at Twickenham leaves Scotland on one win from three games, with Wales to come at Murrayfield before a final weekend visit to play France.

"We came here to win because we knew we'd put ourselves in a position where we needed to win," Gilchrist told BBC Scotland.

"But we have to focus on that level of performance - it is going to win us more games than it loses us.

"We have to now look at winning our last two games and where that will leave us in the Championship. Depending on other results, that's where we're at.

"Obviously, it hurts to be saying that. I want to be standing here going: 'We have two games and we've got a chance to win the Championship.'

"But we weren't quite good enough."

After Wales put up a strong fight before eventually going down to grand-slam chasing Ireland, Gilchrist expects a rejuvenated side to arrive at Murrayfield on 8 March, regardless of their run of 15 straight defeats.

"Six Nations games are so tough - every game is a proper test match now," Gilchrist added.

"If you're not at your very best, you don't win.

"Wales will be taking a lot of positives from their game and they'll be coming up to Murrayfield to win.

"For us, it has to be another step forward in our performance levels.

"I believe if we add another layer to what we put on [against England], we win the game next week and we go to Paris - looking to add a bit more on again and win there."

Scotland fans, we asked for your opinions on Scotland's agonising 16-15 loss to England in the Calcutta Cup.

Here's a taste of what you had to say...

Teamy: A great game to watch, but between six points left on the field and this sagging feeling that we just aren't clinical in the 22 - and for some reason never, ever think to go for drop goals - I'm feeling very deflated. England were very good, though ultimately we lost it rather than they won it. The spectre of going one from five is now hovering over me.

Jardine: Sadly we got what we deserved - a pat on the back for courage and invention, but negated again by poor discipline. Three kickers on the team, two on the pitch at the end. This will take a long time to recover.

Archie: Gregor Townsend has been brilliant and I don't blame him for today at all as our own errors cost us. We've got one maybe two more shots at the title in a generation. Roll the dice and get Franco Smith in charge. Townsend has reached his ceiling.

Al: Fantastic game of rugby! Scotland probably should have made more points out of their first half dominance but England fought back very impressively. Seemed like a fair result for a really tight match.

David: To score three tries to one and still lose shows that Townsend's time as coach continues to be a tale of 'what might have been'. I cannot see a change as long as Townsend is in charge. Scotland must have some new leadership if they are to challenge for the top spot.

Hector: Quite simple really - miss kicks, lose match. Finn Russell has mis-kicked his way out of the Lions contention as well as losing the Calcutta Cup to a much less deserving English team.

Ross: Once again Scotland snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Had enough ball and chances to win multiple games but failed to execute. Townsend has taken this team as far as he can. Time for a change.

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Ben White says Scotland's failure to make their first-half dominance count against England was their downfall in their Calcutta Cup defeat at Twickenham.

The Scots scored brilliant tries through White and Huw Jones but passed up several other promising openings and went in at the break with just a three-point lead.

England hit back with a succession of penalties to edge in front and although Duhan van der Merwe scored in the 79th minute, Finn Russell's conversion for victory slid agonisingly wide as the home side held on for a 16-15 victory.

"It's frustrating to lose like that in the end, but ultimately we left a lot of opportunities out there in the game," White said.

"We made a lot of line breaks and we couldn't quite capitalise on them. Part of that is us and part of it is the fact that England scrambled really well and got over the ball really well.

"The way that we played at times was really good and really exciting, we dominated possession and territory in a lot of the game. Ultimately we didn't come away with enough points when we got entries into that 22.

"We have to look at ourselves as a collective, as a team, how can we be better in those key moments once we get into the 22 to make sure we come away with points and be accurate there, to keep the pressure on. We didn't do that today and we let England get off."

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Former Scotland prop Peter Wright says Gregor Townsend's side cost themselves a fifth consecutive Calcutta Cup victory with their wastefulness at Twickenham.

Finn Russell's missed conversion after Duhan van der Merwe's second try of the game ultimately cost the Scots in a 16-15 defeat, essentially ending their title hopes.

Scotland dominated almost every statistic but failed to convert several entries into the England 22 into points, and Wright was left frustrated by the loss to a team who he wasn't too impressed by.

"Scotland lost that game, England didn't win it," he said on Sportsound. "England were awful - as an attacking force, really poor.

"That's what makes it so frustrating - to beat England three tries to one at Twickenham and still lose the game."

On Russell's poor afternoon off the tee, former Scotland full-back Chris Paterson expressed his sympathy for the Bath stand-off.

"You train for putting earlier kicks out of your mind and sticking to your process," he said. "Finn takes pride in that. He has been kicking tremendously well through the Autumn Nations Series and since then.

"There were opportunities missed in terms of try-scoring as well. It's a tough one to take for Finn."

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Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, speaking to BBC Scotland: "I'm proud of how we played today. In the first half, our execution was very good - our contact work was outstanding.

"We created opportunities. We scored three tries and will look back and think we could have scored more. In a lot of ways it was a better performance than we've had down here when we've won.

"England defended very well. They are very good in their own 22. Credit goes to them. With that amount of possession we're normally good at converting into points. Today we didn't do that often enough.

"Finn was a big part of us getting three tries. He has kicked a lot of very important points for us in the past.

"The reality is we didn't win and are likely now not going to win the championship. It's a performance we can build on over the next two rounds."