The Post-England Hangover: Scotland's Six Nations Curse
Following a rousing victory over England at Murrayfield last Saturday night, Scotland's head coach Gregor Townsend humorously pondered when to tell his players to stop celebrating. While his comment was tongue-in-cheek, the underlying issue is no joke. Scotland's rugby team faces a well-documented phenomenon: the post-England hangover, which extends far beyond sore heads the morning after.
A Startling Statistical Pattern
Since the Six Nations era began, Scotland have defeated England on nine occasions: in 2000, 2006, 2008, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2026. Yet, astonishingly, only once have they managed to win their subsequent match the following week. That sole exception came against Wales in 2023.
Let's examine the chronology. In 2006, Chris Paterson and Dan Parks kicked all the points in an 18-12 win over the reigning world champions at Murrayfield, only for Scotland to lose 15-9 to Ireland in Dublin the next week. In 2008, against an England side fresh from a World Cup Final, Paterson and Parks again provided all the points in a 15-9 victory, but Scotland then crashed to a 23-20 defeat against Italy at the Stadio Flaminio.
The pattern continued in 2018, with Finn Russell and Huw Jones running riot in a 25-13 win over England, followed by a 28-8 walloping by Ireland in Dublin. In 2021, the euphoria of beating England at Twickenham in round one fell flat with a 25-24 home loss to Wales. In 2022, Wales again triumphed in Cardiff after Scotland started their championship with a 20-17 victory over England at Murrayfield.
The Challenge Ahead Against Wales
This weekend, Scotland travel to Cardiff to face Wales, who have suffered heavy defeats to England and France. Despite being favourites, Scotland must overcome their historical tendency to falter after beating the Auld Enemy. As legendary coach Jim Telfer once implied, Scotland seem to climb Everest against England, only to fall off a cliff the next week.
Scotland lock Scott Cummings, a colossus in the England victory, acknowledges the need to change this narrative. 'We obviously know that we can push on and we believe we can push on,' said Cummings. 'Last weekend was just a start for us. It's now we need to back it up.'
He added, 'We've beaten England before. We've done this before in the Six Nations quite a few times, and we probably haven't backed it up after that. So that's definitely a big focus for us.' Cummings emphasised that the team is tired of this pattern and wants to set a new story.
Learning from Past Mistakes
Cummings reflected on the 2024 loss to Italy after a Calcutta Cup triumph, where Scotland blew a 12-point lead. 'We felt good going into the Italy game as well,' he admitted. 'We'll obviously be sitting there with Italy in the back of our mind and we know that we can't let our performance dip to that point again.'
He stressed the importance of self-generated energy: 'In a way, it's easy to get up for England with it being such a big game and coming off the back of the defeat to Italy. It's now up to us to create our own energy.'
Pressure and Expectations
Despite the win over England, Cummings insists the pressure remains. 'No, I wouldn't say so,' he replied when asked if the victory had taken the heat off. 'I don't want it to, I want the heat on us. I think we're a team that might be going in a strong, confident mood. But we need to view every moment as the most important moment of the match.'
He added, 'I don't think the pressure is off us. I like to think in international rugby the pressure is always on you to perform well. It's another massive game for us.'
Respecting the Welsh Challenge
Cummings is wary of underestimating Wales, despite their two heavy defeats. 'They have played two very good teams,' he noted. 'They were away to England at Twickenham first up and then having France at home. It was a tough couple of games.'
He also highlighted his familiarity with Welsh coaches Steve Tandy and Danny Wilson, who have worked with Scotland and Glasgow Warriors. 'We're expecting a pretty solid, gritty performance from them and they'll definitely be tough to break down,' Cummings said. 'They're going to be a team that's obviously hurting and like we were last week, that often brings the best out of teams. So we're expecting a massive fight from them.'
As Scotland prepares for this crucial match, the focus is clear: break the curse of the post-England hangover and prove they can sustain excellence beyond one glorious victory.
