{"id":428034,"date":"2026-02-16T03:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T03:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428034\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T03:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T03:15:10","slug":"matt-dawson-on-scotland-beating-england-on-six-nations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/428034\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Dawson on Scotland beating England on Six Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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 class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Scotland 2000, Ireland 2001 and France 2002 &#8211; they all still hurt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">I was involved in all those campaigns and came up short of a Grand Slam by one victory three consecutive times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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 class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">England will lick their wounds after yet another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c98q3zn6p0ro\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">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 class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The chance to win a Grand Slam does not come around very often, and that is the reality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Last week I said it would be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c4g0vjy1j8xo\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">foolish to draw a straight line<\/a> from the opening weekend to a Grand Slam decider in Paris.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This tournament is magical for exactly that reason.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Two wins and England will be in a position to go to Paris and perhaps try to win the championship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There is plenty to focus on and be excited about, and that Murrayfield pain will make England a better team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Big away wins are not easy in the Six Nations, and Saturday is another one that eluded Steve Borthwick.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It is not just about winning on another pitch as the World Cup is on neutral soil in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It is about the different feeling outside the Twickenham environment and home comforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">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 class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Borthwick is still yet to travel to Scotland, Ireland or France in the Six Nations and win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Most adversity comes from playing away from home, and Saturday gave the England players more of those scenarios.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It is very unlikely they will win a World Cup without a statement away victory beforehand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I can easily reel off the losses that stuck with me in the Six Nations, as they can&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-428034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}