Special moment for Saints star Furbank but England are beaten by Scotland

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Saints full-back George Furbank scored his first England try but it wasn't enough for the Red Rose as they slipped to a 30-21 Guinness Six Nations defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Furbank, who was making his first appearance in this year's tournament, finished off a flowing move just five minutes into the match.

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But Scotland came roaring back after falling behind early on, with wing Duhan van der Merwe scoring a hat-trick in the home success.

Furbank and Saints team-mate Tommy Freeman both started for England, while Fin Smith got game time as a replacement during the second half.

Saints prop Elliot Millar Mills came off the bench to make an impact for Scotland.

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“It’s very clear that when you make that many handling errors at this level, it’s very difficult to win,” said England boss Steve Borthwick. “Especially against a team of Scotland’s quality.

"We have got to make sure we respect what a good team Scotland are and the chances they took.

“Ultimately we made it too easy for them to score in terms of the chances they took, but they were very clinical.

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George Furbank celebrated his try with Saints team-mate Tommy Freeman (photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)George Furbank celebrated his try with Saints team-mate Tommy Freeman (photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
George Furbank celebrated his try with Saints team-mate Tommy Freeman (photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

"It's a huge lesson for our team as we develop. The number of turnovers makes it very difficult to win.”

Furbank's slick start got England off to a flyer, but the away side started to struggle more as the game went on.

“We’d all love progression to be a nice linear path," Borthwick added. "Ultimately it’s not, especially when you are trying to do it at this level.

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“What you saw at this level is a team that is trying to develop, trying to add layers to the game and made errors and got punished. Sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you don’t. Against a team like Scotland, you don’t.

"It’s a big learning experience, it’s a painful lesson.

“As you start to look at it against a Scotland team that has been together a long time, their 10/12/13 (Finn Russell, Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones) has started a dozen Tests together.

"I think that is the first time our 10/12/13 have started together, and it looked like that.

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"It looked like a lack of cohesion in what they did and too many fundamental errors.

“After a defeat, you are always disappointed. After a performance where you don’t think you have maximized your potential, it’s always disappointing.

“It doesn’t matter the result, the scoreboard in that sense. If you don’t maximise your potential, it’s disappointment, and I don’t think the team maximized their potential.”