Cam Redpath’s Twickenham debut was a lot better than mine, jokes Gregor Townsend

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend had special words of praise for Cam Redpath who made his Scotland debut in the historic 11-6 win over England.

It was the Scots’ first victory at Twickenham since 1983 and Redpath excelled at inside centre.

The Bath player is dual qualified and previously represented England at under-20 level and was even called up into Eddie Jones’ full squad for the 2018 tour of South Africa.

Redpath had to pull out due to a knee injury and England’s loss appears to be Scotland’s gain, with the player opting to represent the country his father, Bryan, captained during the 1990s and early 2000s.

“It was a much better debut from Cam Redpath than I had at Twickenham in 1993, that’s for sure,” laughed Townsend, referencing the 26-12 defeat of 28 years ago in which the Scotland coach made his international bow as a replacement for Craig Chalmers.

“I thought it was an incredible debut given he has just come into a squad he had not trained with before and was meeting players for the first time and then to integrate into our way of playing and get used to those players.

“We saw his skill-set, his confidence, his maturity - we’ve seen that in games with Bath and we’ve seen it in training but you don’t expect someone on his Test debut to have such an accomplished start, against England of all teams in a place where we’ve not won for so long.

Cameron Redpath lifts the Calcutta Cup with fellow debutant Dave Cherry. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images

“He was excellent. He got the ball a lot in the first half which I think helped him and he did well when he got it - some really good carries, some good passes and he secured an excellent jackal penalty for us in the second half.

“He showed his competitiveness, he showed his skill and it’s really exciting to see what he can achieve in his career and what we can do with him over the next few years.”

Redpath was born in France while his father played for Narbonne then grew up in England when Bryan Redpath moved to Sale.

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