Nick Mullins was forced to apologise for any bad language heard on ITV’s broadcast of Scotland vs England in the Six Nations, as a jubilant Murrayfield Stadium lapped up an impressive home performance. Gregor Townsend’s team impressed early doors against the Red Roses, who were hampered around 25 minutes into the match by the sending off of Henry Arundell.
After taking a 31-13 lead against Steve Borthwick’s men, Flower of Scotland began to be belted out by a jam-packed home crowd, with ITV’s microphones appearing to pick up one fan yelling: “I f***ing love this.” Quick to respond, Mullins was then heard apologising for any language heard. He said: “Apologies for the language in the middle of all that, no apologies for the general noise around Murrayfield right now.”
A 20 minute depletion to 14 men was the least of England’s worries when Arundell picked up a second yellow card midway through the first-half, considering the Red Roses were already 24-10 down after a frightening start from Scotland. Having already been sin-binned within nine minutes for failing to release, the Bath winger picked up a second yellow and ultimately a red for a rash challenge on Kyle Steyn.
Scott Hastings was left at a loss for words due to the incident, as he was heard on commentary duty saying: “Wow, wow, wow. That is a real turning point in this game. It was reckless, he wasn’t challenging for the ball.
“And he is absolutely right. I was very impressed with Sione Tuipulotu, the way he spoke to the referee. The right decision was made in that case, a 20-minute red card. This game has drama written all over it.”
Elsewhere, David Flatman added: “I don’t think you can argue that call. I quite like what you said about Tuipulotu. I quite like how he handled it because just before he said, ‘I’ll take the lads away’, he said, ‘That is dangerous, that is dangerous.’ No argument there. Scotland were quite good against 14 a few minutes ago weren’t they?”
While not an overall turning point in the way the game played out, the absence of Arundell only aided Scotland, as they ran out 31-20 winners over England to clinch the Calcutta Cup on home turf.
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