Category News

Fifty minutes gone at Murrayfield and it was freewheelin ‘ time. Five Scottish tries in the bag, a 27-point lead on the board and Finn Russell directing his players around the pitch with the authority of the world’s greatest traffic cop.

Easy. Scotland were all width and class, pace and execution. They were a joy. Blair Kinghorn, Huw Jones, Darcy Graham, Tom Jordan – even big Duhan van der Merwe was coming off his wing and getting involved in the show.

An exhibition of what is best about this team. Devastating.

They made bits of Wales, who were vulnerable to the wide game and who were caught out when Scotland ran up their guts.

Their composure was so shot that they gave their hosts a free seven-points when Ben Thomas lost the plot in the lead-up to Scotland’s fourth try. They had a man in the bin and all hope in a skip.

Same last year in Cardiff when the visitors led by 27 points early in the second half and were hanging on at the end. And same on Saturday. It wasn’t quite the smelling salts and stretchers of 2024, but it was close.

Nobody can be sure, but with Wales scoring 21 unanswered points from the 62nd minute (plus a try for Taulupe Faletau that was disallowed) many people would have bet the house on Wales winning had it gone on much longer.

In boxing parlance, Scotland were stuck on the ropes, almost defenceless, eyes rolling in the back of their head as Wales unloaded. The last bell saved them from possible mortification.

In the first half they’d built their lead which saw them home and fair play to them for that. They won, they got five points and now they’ll move on to Paris to try to stop what seems like the inevitable – a French title.

They’ll travel, of course, with all the good wishes of their friends across the water. Irish fans are suddenly Scotland fans.

Saturday was Scotland in microcosm, their excellence and their weakness. It was a day that showed again why you can’t see them progressing to the status of contenders even if you buried your face in a vat of happy juice.

Everything really started to go wrong when Russell was taken off as an injury precaution and the bench started to appear. Not enough of them make a positive impact. Several of them added to the errors and the chaos.

Scotland’s hair caught fire when Teddy Williams drove over with 11 minutes left. Too easy, that. The home team had stopped working as hard it had been.

Faletau’s try didn’t stand but it left an impact. In the preamble, Blair Morgan was missed by Stafford McDowall and Kyle Rowe, then after the illegal hurdling, he did George Horne. The score was correctly ruled out, but Wales were on a roll.

That last try showed Scotland in their panicked state. Joe Roberts eluded Kinghorn, then slipped out of trouble when Rowe, Jordan and Matt Fagerson came to him. It was like he was slathered in butter.

A penalty, a lineout, a try for Max Llewellyn. Murrayfield silent, apart from the faint sound of sobbing.

The cameras turned to Russell who shook his head and looked like saying something beginning with F before the director cut away.

Scotland went to sleep, he said later. They switched off. The message all week, he stated, was to play for 80 minutes, but they didn’t. Again.

This team has a well-developed and debilitating trend of falling asleep in games. They didn’t score in the last 33 minutes on Saturday.

A fortnight ago they went an hour without scoring against England, against Ireland they didn’t score for 41 minutes and then 26 minutes. Against Italy, they went 33 minutes without a point.

This is repeat behaviour from Scotland. Last season threw up similar numbers and so did the season before.

It didn’t cost them this time, but it remains a puzzler as to why this keeps happening. Are they always going to have the propensity for napping during games?

It’s why we can admire many of the things this team does, but it’s very hard to trust them. We can marvel at their creativity, but elan alone is not cutting it at the sharp end of the championship.

And so to Paris against the mighty French. Scotland at their very, very best are unpredictable enough, and mad enough, to make it a scary day for Fabien Galthie.

Scotland are not a conventional team. They have players that could hurt France. They have a mindset that could cut them open and give them much to think about.

They don’t have a hang-up about the French the way they do against the Irish. Psychology won’t be a problem.

France will surely win – and maybe very comfortably – because on top of the flair in the backline they have monsters up front. Many, many monsters.

They have eight starters and possibly another seven on the bench. To hell, Fabien, go 8-0 and be done with it. Bring out every brute, from Perpignan to Picardy.

France won a seismic victory in Dublin and will feel invincible now. Scotland won a shaky one in Edinburgh and Lord only knows how they’ll be feeling.

Luke Littler began his defence of the Belgian Open title with a second-round win – but four Premier League players were dumped out on Saturday.

The world champion, who won last year’s Belgian title while making his European Tour debut in Wieze, was among the 16 seeds that joined the draw in the second round.

The 18-year-old averaged 94.36 to Ryan Searle’s 95.48 but was far more efficient on the doubles, finishing with a checkout percentage of 42.9% compared to Searle’s 25% to clinch a 6-3 victory.

But four of the top 10 seeds fell at their first hurdle, including world number one Luke Humphries and three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen.

The world number three suffered the biggest shock, with Van Gerwen humbled 6-4 by unranked Croatian qualifier Boris Krcmar, 45.

Humphries and Rob Cross both claimed a nine-dart finish during Thursday’s Premier League action, while Nathan Aspinall was beaten by Littler in the final.

Humphries averaged just 92.61 on Saturday, though, as the 2024 world champion was upset 6-4 by local favourite Mike de Decker (100.45).

Ross Smith (112.60) proved too strong for world number four Cross (98.80) as he beat last year’s runner-up 6-2, while Aspinall was dealt a narrow 6-5 loss to Ritchie Edhouse.

The tournament concludes on Sunday, with Littler having a third-round game against fellow Englishman Luke Woodhouse, who beat Gary Anderson 6-2.

Gerwyn Price averaged 112.42 in his 6-2 victory over Gian van Veen and will face Damon Heta, who thrashed former world champion Michael Smith 6-0.

It is one of football’s oldest cliches, but in the case of Manchester United and Arsenal this season, the league table really does not lie.

For Arsenal, one point from their past two games means they are extremely unlikely to reel in league leaders Liverpool and face the disappointing prospect of finishing second for a third straight season.

For United, it has been a historically miserable season, marooned in 14th place, still waiting to win back-to-back Premier League games and contemplating their worst points record in the competition.

Beyond being second, they are down in almost every metric on this time in 2023-24, where they had 61 points after 27 games.

Their shot conversion rate is also worse than last season but, despite valid criticism about the lack of a striker, only Brentford and Liverpool have proved more efficient at putting the ball in the net.

However, it is only in goals conceded that Arsenal have matched their 2023-24 record – and they remain the best defence in the Premier League in that regard.

As for United, their goal difference demonstrates their position is correct:

Problems in attack are mirrored at the back even though there has been partial improvement this season.

Ruben Amorim’s side have actually faced far fewer shots than at this stage in 2023-24 – and a smaller number than high-flying Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Aston Villa.

Arsenal have won their past four Premier League games against United – the longest such streak in the history of this rivalry – but did lose on penalties to Amorim’s 10-man side in the FA Cup in January.

The underlying numbers still suggest a United victory in their third-round tie was unexpected.

Mikel Arteta’s side were dominant in almost all metrics, as they had been in the league encounter a month previously, only to find United’s second-choice keeper Altay Bayindir inspired as he denied the Gunners.

In fact, the only area where Amorim’s side laid a blow was in fouls, committing 50% more than their opponents.

“It’s a big club which has struggled a little bit but we know the quality they have when they’re really on it”, said Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard. “They have a lot of good individual players that we have to be ready for.