For the second game in a row, England found a way. Having been battered and beaten by a relentless Scotland, Steve Borthwick’s side somehow stayed in the contest, edged into the lead and rode their luck to hold on to the most dramatic of 16-15 wins and finally end their half-decade of Calcutta Cup woe.
There was some irony to the fact that it was England’s tormentor-in-chief from the recent past, Finn Russell, who, having already missed two earlier kicks, saw his touchline conversion at the death drift agonisingly wide to leave the visitors one paltry point short in the final reckoning. So often the match-winner, he took on a more heartbreaking role to leave the men in white exhausted but celebrating the end of a streak.
“I don’t want to do that again,” chuckled a still shell-shocked Ollie Chessum on the pitch immediately after the win, referencing the nail-biting finale. There was likely a sizable contingent of fans inside Allianz Stadium, Twickenham who would agree as they try to get their heart-rate back down to a normal level before going back to work on Monday morning.
It’s now three Six Nations contests on the spin where England have been dominated in the first half, yet have battled to stay in the match at the halfway mark. While Ireland eventually proved too strong in Dublin on the opening weekend, Elliot Daly’s late try downed France a fortnight ago and now the ever-so-slightly errant boot of Russell, combined with the pinpoint kicking of England’s twin Smiths – Marcus and son of Scottish parents Fin – delivered long-sought retribution over their oldest foe.
After 12 months of exhibiting an almost comical inability to see out close games during a frustrating losing streak against tier-one nations, England are suddenly cashing in all their chips to grab narrow wins at the death.
It’s not a particularly sustainable way to build a winning run but improvements even from the France clash were evident. Whereas the superstars of Les Bleus inexplicably butchered countless golden chances, Gregor Townsend’s troops may also have left points on the field but they were largely stymied by brilliant – if desperate – scramble defence despite their three tries.
And England needed every bit of targeted desperation to down a Scotland side that have proved their nemesis during a 1,477-day run of Calcutta Cup success – the longest amount of time in the 154-year history of this fixture that the men from north of the border have held the trophy.
The Scots were targeting a fifth straight win over the Auld Enemy for the very first time and when Ben White and Huw Jones went over for two typically spectacular early tries, it appeared to be recent business as usual.
Yet the hosts stayed close, stepped on the accelerator in the second half to build a narrow lead and then survived that conversion attempt after Duhan van der Merwe’s late score for the most rewarding of victories. Suddenly, the Borthwick project has momentum, with England now expected to end the Six Nations with four wins for the first time since their 2020 title triumph, while Townsend may face existential questions about his reign.
‘Toonie’ has turned Scotland into a consistently competitive force, yet a golden generation of players have not yet been able to genuinely challenge for the trophy. Could another man – perhaps Glasgow Warriors’ URC-winning boss Franco Smith, who has been sending not-so-subtle signals about wanting to return to international coaching – get them over the hump?
That is a question for another day but such is the strength of feeling evoked by the Calcutta Cup that it can alter the entire trajectory of a team’s future.
Just three minutes and 33 seconds into proceedings however, England could have been forgiven for thinking ‘not again’… Scotland have made a habit of scoring not just any tries but incredible, barely believable tries in the Calcutta Cup over the past few years and promptly added another to the pantheon.
Van Der Merwe, perhaps the ultimate England exterminator during this run of dominance, inevitably started the move as he surged around the outside of Ollie Lawrence before sumptuously offloading to Blair Kinghorn. Two more gorgeous passes from Kinghorn and Tom Jordan meant White was suddenly galloping over the line.
England responded with a more prosaic try as Tommy Freeman biffed his way over the line and Marcus Smith – restored to kicking duties after his French nightmare saw him stripped mid-game a fortnight ago – added a nerve-settling conversion but Scotland soon dug into the box of tricks supplied by their annual transformation into the Harlem Globetrotters of Six Nations rugby for this fixture with a second stunning score.
From set-piece ball, every Scottish back was involved. It ended with Kinghorn feeding Van Der Merwe, who dragged Smith with him before popping to Jones for yet another try to add to his Calcutta Cup collection.
With Van Der Merwe having once again entered beast mode against the Auld Enemy, making it almost impossible to tackle him behind the gain-line, and the rest of the backline playing fluent, ambitious rugby when in possession, every Scottish attack looked destined to lead to a score. But for consistently excellent England scramble defence, they would have.
The hosts barely had a sniff in attack but gutsy, disciplined defensive sets, timely penalties and Russell’s two missed conversions ensured they somehow only trailed by three points at the break. They could even have led as, on the stroke of half-time, Lawrence punched a hole in the heart of the Scottish defence and, after receiving the return ball from a dancing Smith in the 22, tried a spectacular back-door offload with the line in sight. However, it ended up in the stands rather than the hands of a team-mate.
With England on top at the scrum, thanks to colossal efforts by Ellis Genge and the now consistently impressive Will Stuart, there was at least a base to turn things around in the second half.
The old dogs of war, Jamie George and Daly, were called from the bench to add bite to this young England side’s bark and after a Smith penalty levelled the game at 10-10, another veteran, skipper Maro Itoje, snatched the ball at the breakdown to prevent another seemingly inevitable Scottish score.
It set up an intriguing final quarter and Borthwick’s men showed off their increasing mastery of this most intense of arenas.
Itoje’s incredible one-handed catch from George’s slightly overthrown lineout set up a 67th-minute penalty that gave England their first lead of the day before Fin Smith showed off the power in his right boot to crunch another three-pointer from halfway a couple of minutes later.
With Allianz Stadium rocking entering the final stages, England seemed to be managing the game superbly, only for a shuddering blow to wobble the entire house of cards. Stafford McDowall punched an initial hole and a flowing move to the left ended with Van Der Merwe touching down. A touchline conversion to surely hand Scotland victory awaited Russell but for the third time, he erred – his kick drifting agonisingly wide of the left post.
England retained the narrowest of 16-15 leads but there was still time for kick-off and a Scotland penalty then moved them into English territory. Yet the white wall finally strengthened once more, held the ball up in the tackle and sealed a win that had the old stadium’s foundations rocking with noise.
Borthwick, the players and certainly the fans will hope more straightforward victories follow but for now, a win is a win, a streak is ended and England might just be on the up.
