- Finn Russell missed a late conversion as England eked out the win over Scotland
- The Twickenham triumph ends an eight-year wait for a home Calcutta Cup win
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England skipper Maro Itoje admitted his team must learn to take control of games after their late Calcutta Cup victory left Scotland fuming.
Finn Russell missed a conversion in the final minute at Twickenham to hand England their first win over Scotland since 2020. It was a second win of the Six Nations for England, to keep alive their unlikely title bid.
‘We’ve been on the end of some negative results, tight in the last moments of games, and now we’re finding a way to win these tight exchanges,’ said Itoje.
‘Today was good, it wasn’t perfect, we still leaked some tries but the fight, the character and the energy the boys kept on showing was really, really good.
‘All these experiences build the character of the team and hopefully we can keep on building, but it would be nice if it wasn’t so narrow at the end. We’ll work hard to perhaps make it a little bit easier for Steve. I think some more of Steve [Borthwick]’s hair might fall off if we keep doing this.’
The result came about in controversial fashion. Tommy Freeman scored England’s only try but there were justified complaints from the Scottish camp that he did not ground the ball.
Finn Russell squandered a late conversion after Duhan van der Merwe got over the line
Tommy Freeman bundled over England’s only try of the game in controversial fashion
Marcus Smith was pinpoint from the tee, with kicking proving the decisive factor in the contest
Maro Itoje led England to a first home Calcutta Cup win in eight years at Twickenham
‘Referee said I got it down,’ said Freeman with a sheepish grin, before mischievously asking for no more questions about the try. ‘I felt like it went on the ground. He must have seen it on the ground.’
Scotland scored three tries to one but England snatched the victory thanks to penalties from Marcus and Fin Smith. Their final score came from a controversial call at the breakdown, when Scotland were judged to have dangerously cleared out Ben Curry.
‘I did feel the decision that counted against us for the winning three points, where we cleared someone out of the ruck, I just don’t know how that’s a penalty,’ said Scotland coach Gregor Townsend. ‘We’ve moved someone off the ruck, they’re two feet off the ground, there’s no moving legs or [past the] horizontal. So many big collisions in the game, that’s an interesting call.’
England coach Borthwick added: ‘What pleases me is I think the team is evolving. We don’t necessarily want to play the way we’ve played today. We want the ball in hand, to move the ball. We have a lot of creative talent, but Scotland are then trying to stop you doing that. We found a way to win.’
