Matt Dawson column: ‘England’s capitulation disappointing after strong start at Murrayfield’

Scotland did not get out of third gear but England’s capitulation was disappointing after how well they started.

Scotland were wobbling in the first 20 minutes and England were in control. They were playing with their chests pumped out and had silenced the Murrayfield crowd.

The passes were slightly frenetic, kicks were being charged down and they didn’t know how to get around England’s blitz defence.

Everyone supporting England was going bonkers after George Furbank’s opening try off the first phase. It was what we had come to see, but then that was pretty much it.

Scotland finished the first half on top and any rugby team that can soak up pressure and bounce back like that is dangerous.

The place was jumping in the second half even though Scotland did not play great but had a couple of brilliant moments.

It just reiterates the fact you don’t need to wrap it up with razzle dazzle. If you are winning ugly then your fans will be happy and your stadium is going to be a very tough place to visit.

England put their soul into the performance but sometimes it’s not about how fit and strong you are.

It’s about decision-making at key moments: going through one or two phases and dropping the ball or getting turned over or being held up in the maul when you’re on the charge.

Playing away from home in a real cauldron, these are mistakes that cannot happen.

‘Glimpses of brilliance alone do not win Test matches’

I would love England to be a little bit more instinctive.

You have to fit in with the England way as a player but there are always moments within these big games when you can do something slightly different.

We had so much experience at half-back with nearly 200 caps between [scrum-half] Danny Care and [fly-half] George Ford but we didn’t make the most of 60% possession we had at one stage.

It’s just about decision-making. I can see the intent and I think England are going in the right direction, but these glimpses of brilliance are too infrequent and glimpses alone do not win Test matches.

Ben Spencer comes on at scrum-half and immediately goes into box-kicking mode on the halfway line and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him do that for his club Bath.

It’s the same with Fin Smith, who plays in a brilliant Northampton team who have ripped teams apart in the Premiership this season.

Impose yourself in the team. We want to see some fresh blood and we want to see them doing what they are good at.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso still has that naivety to do what he knows he is good at. He played like the field was his own and didn’t care what wing he was on, he wanted to get the ball in his hands and play.

Particularly within the English game, it sort of gets coached out of you a little bit the longer you’re in the squad because everyone reverts to what the coaches want so they have longevity in the jersey.

I would rather see players coming through with 40 or 50 caps, winning silverware and then making way for the next generation. Make it competitive around selection on performance and form.

‘To win these games, you have to have world-class players’

Duhan van der Merwe loves scoring against England. He scored one unbelievable try but the other two were fantastic moments from his team-mates for him to finish.

He is an incredible athlete and is battling with Ireland’s James Lowe as the best winger in the Six Nations.

He reads the game very well and pops up at the right time. He has an understanding with Finn Russell, and as far as that connection goes, it is pretty ruthless. If you are going to win these types of games, you have to have those type of world-class players.

Who are going to be the England players to step up for the rest of the team to follow?

Locks Ollie Chessum and Maro Itoje grafted so hard in Edinburgh, but I’m struggling apart from that.

England have been lacking in the world-class department over their three games so far and there hasn’t been the individual to light the touch paper.

Anybody can beat anybody in this tournament. On form and paper, Ireland are going to win at Twickenham, but England will be better than they were today.

They have two weeks to work it out, but these next two games against Ireland and France are going to test the character of the coaching staff and the players. Let’s see them set up and see what they have got.

The glimpses we saw for 10 minutes against Scotland need to be delivered for 50 or 60 minutes and there has to be a significant improvement.

Scotland are going to beat Italy and they have got progressively better as the weeks have gone by. They were unfortunate not to beat France but you saw no remnants of that against England.

They were under pressure for 20 minutes and you could see they were struggling to work it out, but then all of a sudden, bang, they scored the try and they were back into it and it started making sense to them.

Matt Dawson was speaking to BBC Sport’s Mantej Mann.