The China Mail - Itoje glad of England's 'hair-raising' win over Scotland

Scotland were on the brink of maintaining their hold on the Calcutta Cup when impressive wing Duhan van der Merwe sprinted over for a 79th-minute try that took the Dark Blues to within a point of victory.

But co-captain Finn Russell fired the conversion attempt wide of the left post, and he was also off target after Ben White and Huw Jones crossed the hosts' line in a match where Scotland outscored England three tries to one.

England turned round just 10-7 behind at half-time following Tommy Freeman's converted try but two Marcus Smith penalties and a long-range effort from Fin Smith gave them just enough of a lead.

Victory also meant England maintained their Six Nations title hopes after their second straight one-point win following a 26-25 Twickenham triumph over France.

"We're absolutely delighted," said Itoje. "Scotland are a top team and they played well again today. They threw a whole load of difficult questions and scenarios at us and I'm just very proud that the boys stuck in there and we found a way to win."

Lock forward Itoje, speaking alongside balding England coach Steve Borthwick, added: "All these experiences build the character of the team and hopefully we can keep on building but it would be nice if it wasn't so narrow at the end.

"We'll work hard to perhaps try and make it a little bit easier for Steve. I think more of his hair might fall off if we keep doing this."

Borthwick's side face Italy and Wales next month as they look to keep pace with unbeaten leaders Ireland, bidding for an unprecedented third successive Six Nations title.

"I was delighted in the last two games that the endings have gone our way and the team worked exceptionally hard for that," he said.

"In many ways it wasn’t pretty and there were things we'd obviously want to do differently, do better, but ultimately they found a way to win the game."

Questions were raised over whether Freeman had grounded the ball for his try but the television match official felt there was insufficient evidence to overturn the decision of French referee Pierre Brousset, making his Six Nations debut in front of a crowd of over 80,000.

- 'Outstanding kicker Russell' -

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, reflecting on the decision, said: "I didn't really look at it, I heard the (other) coaches say it wasn't grounded."

Townsend, meanwhile, backed "outstanding goal-kicker" Russell to remain in the role despite his trio of misses.

"No, I don't think so," he said when asked about relieving Russell of goal-kicking duties.

"Finn is and was an outstanding goal-kicker. He was last season and they were tough kicks today."

Scotland, with Van der Merwe causing chaos in England's defence, were the better side for much of the game yet only led by three points at the interval.

"Normally when you have that amount of pressure on occasions to score points, you get more on the board, so that's a work on," said Townsend, whose side next play a Wales side on a run of 15 straight defeats for all their much-improved display against Ireland earlier Saturday.

J.Liv--ThChM