'Gutted' Rory Darge says Scotland players are hurting after Six Nations Calcutta Cup loss to England

Scotland vice captain Rory Darge says the players are ‘gutted’ after their 16-15 defeat to England which saw their four match stranglehold on the Calcutta Cup come to an end.

Finn Russell had the chance to win the game had he converted Duhan van der Merwe’s late try but he missed the kick, along with two others in the match, and the English saw out the victory. That wasn’t the full story of the match as penalties and handling errors cost the visitors but there were also positive in the match both from individuals and the team as a whole.

"It's obviously a tough result to take in the end,” said Darge. “When a game is as close as that, and you put in so much effort throughout the week, and then to come out on the wrong side of the result, we're gutted. But I think the performance was so much better than the last time we had an outing, and that's what led to us having an opportunity to win the game.

"I think there was always going to be a response from England (in the second half), and they were better in the second half than they were in the first half. I think that's something that's important in Test Match rugby. When you have those purple patches, especially in the first half, you have to take your opportunities, and anticipate that reaction coming out in the second half. Part of it was just England being better, and I'm sure when we get in on Monday for reviews, we'll see what we could have done better within that."

Scotland were by far the better team in the first half and throughout with ball in hand. Although the scored three points they could have had so many more but opportunity after opportunity they failed to cross the line and the second half was a much more even contest.

"We knew their bench was there for impact,” said Darge. “We've played South Africa in recent months, faced the Bomb Squad in that, and that sort of mindset to raise your game when you see that bench coming on. I thought we'd done that well, but it was just lots of things went into there. I'm sure getting up behind in that second half, they kept their penalties, there were referee decisions. We just got it with the final result, but I'm a lot happier with the performance in it than last week, or two weeks ago.

"There wasn't a concern at half-time. It was just more, let's keep doing the same and eventually those opportunities will come. Like I said, I think England came out in the second half and raised their game. Probably had less opportunities than we did in the first half. Looking back, it's easy to say you just need to take opportunities. It's promising the amount of opportunities that we get, but right now, after the game, it's just a sort of tough feeling."

So many of the Scotland players put in brilliant performances including Man of the Match Duhan van der Merwe. Huw Jones, Kyle Rowe and Jamie Ritchie were among the other top performers for the Scots.

Darge added: “I think some of the performances out there were world-class. I think some guys played really well, but that's the way it goes. I thought as a team we performed better than we did against Ireland and that's what makes the sort of feeling of losing that much tougher."