ITV slammed by rugby fans after England beat Scotland – ‘Had a shocker’ | Rugby | Sport
It was a moment that will go down in Calcutta Cup folklore, but the ITV cameraman didn’t think to properly show it. With England leading Scotland 16-10 in the dying seconds at Twickenham, Duhan van der Merwe crossed for a sensational try near the corner flag.
That left Finn Russell with a wide-angled conversion to seal a fifth successive Scottish win over the Red Roses.
But as 82,000 fans and millions of television viewers held their breath, ITV opted not to show the now customary live angle from behind the kicker.
Instead, those watching on television were left watching the flags of the assistant referees to determine whether Russell had been on target. When they weren’t raised, it became clear that the kick had drifted wide, prompting English relief and Scottish agony.
But fans were left seething by ITV’s the moment that defined a tense Six Nations clash. As were former players, with ex-England outside half Andy Goode taking to social media to outline his discontent.
“What happened to seeing the potential match-winning kick from Finn Russell?” he wrote on X. “Poor, poor show, not seeing the live angle from behind.”
@Williams101010 agreed, replying with: “Yip, ITV cut to it at the last minute like it was an irrelevant moment. Shocker from them.” @glennebrey added: “Russell’s kick was bad but the ITV direction/camera work was even worse.”
Renowned rugby reporter Mick Clearly also took aim at the broadcaster. “ITV flunked camera coverage on Russell’s missed conversion,” he said. “That was Calcutta Cup moment in production terms and they dropped the ball.”
@jcorrigangolf made light of the footage, asking: What was worse? Russell’s kick or ITV having an angle of it from three streets away?”
@RickyHarries, meanwhile, implied it wasn’t just the camera angles that had let down the company. “ITV, top to bottom, apart from the commentary is garbage,” he said. “Kick to win the game camera angle is on Finn Russell’s face pretty much.”
The coverage of this year’s tournament is split between the BBC and ITV, with the Beeb taking Scotland’s and Wales’ home fixtures and ITV showing the games where England, Ireland, France or Italy are at home.
However, the free-to-air deal is under threat for 2026 amid speculation TNT Sports is preparing a significant bid.
