Gregor Townsend says Scotland’s win over England in the Six Nations is the biggest of his coaching career.Townsend’s side overwhelmed the visitors in a frantic first half at Murrayfield, scoring three tries to go in 22-6 ahead.England improved after the break but Scotland defended impressively to eventually win 25-13.The Scots had come into the Six Nations widely tipped after running New Zealand close and beating Australia in the autumn, but lost to Wales in the tournament opener.However, consecutive wins have now put Townsend’s campaign back on track, leaving the former Glasgow Warriors coach to laud his players’ display. “From a coaching perspective, that’s the biggest win," he said. "We came very close to beating the number one team in the world in November and have now taken on the number two in the world and won."We executed our game plan very well."I think the first half against England and New Zealand were similar in our intent to play where we believed we’d get success."Our defence was outstanding in both games but the difference tonight was we finished off opportunities really well."It wasn’t the complete performance but the way we defended in the second half, especially in the last two minutes, was very satisfying."
We have to show a truer picture of what we are about when we play away, then we’ll see where that takes us.
Townsend on Scotland’s next match against Ireland in Dublin.
Scotland head to Dublin in a fortnight to take on Ireland, who edged out Wales to continue their undefeated start to the Six Nations.Townsend wants his side to paint a "truer picture" of their talent in away fixtures, having so far failed to replicate their Murrayfield form on the road.He added: "Ireland are an outstanding team, with a great home record."We have our own issues we have to solve playing away from home, we have to show a truer picture of what we are about when we play away then we’ll see where that takes us."Finn Russell had come in for criticism following disappointing displays in the first two Six Nations matches.But, according to his coach he was back to his "world class" best against England.Townsend said: "Finn was outstanding in November, against the best teams in the world he was world class."He hasn’t had the best of starts to the Six Nations but today he played like he did in November, we ask a lot of our 10s, they have to be brilliant all the time and they are going to make errors."The pleasing thing was seeing Finn playing the rugby we know he can play."He can kick on from here."
