{"id":8248,"date":"2026-02-15T17:40:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/murrayfield-pain-will-make-england-a-better-team\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T17:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:10:05","slug":"murrayfield-pain-will-make-england-a-better-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/murrayfield-pain-will-make-england-a-better-team\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Murrayfield pain will make England a better team&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Published34 minutes ago<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#comments\">130 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In his latest BBC Sport column, England World Cup winner Matt Dawson discusses the potential long-term impact of England&#x27;s defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield, and the challenge of facing Ireland at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>I can easily reel off the losses that stuck with me in the Six Nations, as they can take you to a really dark place at times.<\/p>\n<p>Scotland 2000, Ireland 2001 and France 2002 &#8211; they all still hurt.<\/p>\n<p>I was involved in all those campaigns and came up short of a Grand Slam by one victory three consecutive times.<\/p>\n<p>It is important now to take stock and remember that defeat will happen again at some point before the 2027 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>England will lick their wounds after yet another <a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c98q3zn6p0ro\">crushing defeat by Scotland,<\/a> but even if a potential Grand Slam has gone, they still have a championship to play for.<\/p>\n<p>The chance to win a Grand Slam does not come around very often, and that is the reality.<\/p>\n<p>Last week I said it would be <a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c4g0vjy1j8xo\">foolish to draw a straight line<\/a> from the opening weekend to a Grand Slam decider in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>This tournament is magical for exactly that reason.<\/p>\n<p>Two wins and England will be in a position to go to Paris and perhaps try to win the championship.<\/p>\n<p>There is plenty to focus on and be excited about, and that Murrayfield pain will make England a better team.<\/p>\n<p>Big away wins are not easy in the Six Nations, and Saturday is another one that eluded Steve Borthwick.<\/p>\n<p>It is not just about winning on another pitch as the World Cup is on neutral soil in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>It is about the different feeling outside the Twickenham environment and home comforts.<\/p>\n<p>As impressive as the 12-game winning run was, England still need that South African mentality &#8211; wherever you go in the world, you are expected to win and be globally successful.<\/p>\n<p>Borthwick is still yet to travel to Scotland, Ireland or France in the Six Nations and win.<\/p>\n<p>Most adversity comes from playing away from home, and Saturday gave the England players more of those scenarios.<\/p>\n<p>It is very unlikely they will win a World Cup without a statement away victory beforehand.<\/p>\n<h2>&#x27;A rush of blood to the head&#x27;<\/h2>\n<p>There is a lot happening in these high-pressure games, and for high-paced players it is happening more quickly both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for Henry Arundell, who was being ultra-competitive, you have to read situations like the one when he took out Kyle Steyn in the air.<\/p>\n<p>England found themselves in a position where they were not playing well and were losing the scraps.<\/p>\n<p>In those situations, you need clarity as well as competitiveness, and a red card obviously does not help to swing the momentum back.<\/p>\n<p>That decision has cost England dearly and, given how competitive that wing slot is, I am sure Borthwick is going to have to manage that scenario.<\/p>\n<p>Henry is a 23-year-old and will, of course, bounce back, but it was reckless and a poor decision.<\/p>\n<p>What if that had been a championship decider or a World Cup knockout game?<\/p>\n<p>You have to make good decisions under pressure. Being in those situations more often will help players learn.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Six Nations: Scotland regain the Calcutta Cup<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rugby Union Weekly<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/sounds\/play\/p0n15rg3\">Listen on Sounds<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cm21e2r3xx0o\">\n<p>Error-strewn England flunk oldest Test at Murrayfield<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published15 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cp8r21m7zlvo\">\n<p>Bewildering, bewitching, brilliant &#8211; Scotland&#x27;s perfect day<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published14 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>&#x27;England lacked shape&#x27;<\/h2>\n<p>England will be licking their lips at the opportunity to bounce back against Ireland on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>We know England can perform with the comfort of home support, so it is not about putting things right &#8211; that will come in games in Rome and Paris.<\/p>\n<p>It is about building on what they did prior to the Scotland game. Sometimes you have to park a game, write it off and move on.<\/p>\n<p>I thought I had seen England drift away from the kick-heavy style and strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Scotland put on an attacking masterclass, whereas when England did attack it felt like they were punching for their lives but not actually landing anything.<\/p>\n<p>They lacked shape, going left and right without making any progress &#8211; like a boxer on the ropes punching for their life but not actually hitting anything.<\/p>\n<p>George Ford&#x27;s failed drop-goal felt like a last-ditch option, which then resulted in what Borthwick described as a 10-point swing.<\/p>\n<p>I do not think you can blame Ford, the sequence was not set up properly and it felt like tired minds all over the place.<\/p>\n<p>Dealing with a fast and furious game is, once again, a learning curve to take forward.<\/p>\n<h2>Ireland will come with &#x27;best game of the campaign&#x27;<\/h2>\n<p>Two years ago there was plenty of talk that Ireland were going to beat England by 30 points at Twickenham.<\/p>\n<p>It was such a mismatch in terms of where both sides were in their development.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/68522819\">Marcus Smith&#x27;s late drop-goal denied Ireland a potential Grand Slam,<\/a> and that was a huge moment in Borthwick&#x27;s tenure.<\/p>\n<p>Now England come in as favourites &#8211; it is amazing how quickly the landscape changes.<\/p>\n<p>Having lost badly against France and nearly drawn against Italy, Ireland will be annoyed that everyone is writing them off.<\/p>\n<p>They are a well-motivated team under Andy Farrell and are very well drilled.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland will come out and probably play their best game of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Scotland, in the space of a week, turned their disappointing loss in Rome into a convincing display against England.<\/p>\n<p>That is how quickly things can change.<\/p>\n<p>Defeat next weekend and the pressure builds on England, with two difficult away fixtures to finish.<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/teams\/scotland\">Scotland Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/teams\/england\">England Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\">Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/clynz242pgxo\">\n<p>Six Nations fixtures, results, standings and how to follow on the BBC<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published15 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c98q3zn6p0ro\">\n<p>Rejuvenated Scotland sweep England aside in stunning Calcutta Cup win<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published17 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#x27;Murrayfield pain will make England a better team&#x27;Image source, BBC SportPublished34 minutes ago130 CommentsIn his latest BBC Sport column, England World Cup winner Matt Dawson discusses the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}