Scotland: 31 (24)
Tries: Jones x2, Ritchie, White, Conversions: Russell x4, Penalties: Russell
England: 20 (10)
Tries: Arundell, Earl, Conversions: Ford x2, Penalties: Ford x2
Following a disappointing opening loss in Rome, Scotland beat England to reclaim the Calcutta Cup at home.
The most historic fixture in World Rugby never fails to deliver, and this game brought passion, physicality, and thrill.
England travelled to Edinburgh filled with confidence from their emphatic win against Wales last week, but their rigid structure couldn’t match Scotland’s flare as they walked away with their Guinness 6 Nations grand slam dreams torn apart.
First Half
England kicked off but quickly found themselves defending inside their own 22. Strong carries from Sione Tuipulotu, Jack Dempsey, and Zander Fagerson forced England to infringe, and Finn Russell quickly established a 3 point lead.
The momentum stayed with Scotland through a kicking battle between the fly halves and a yellow card that was shown to Arundell for holding on cynically. The spirit of Scottish Gas Murrayfield fuelled a magical assist from Russell to set up Huw Jones with the first try of the game.
In direct contrast to their last game, Scotland looked to take total control of their opposition. After working their way into England territory through the backs, the ball was spun wide to Ritchie who crossed the line for his second ever try for Scotland.
England showed some attacking threat but spilled the ball just 10m from the tryline. They won a penalty from the subsequent scrum and, following some huge carries from the forwards, Arundell scored England’s first try. This was quickly followed by a penalty kicked by George Ford.
Much to the crowd’s delight, Scotland’s no.10 wore his best boots for the fixture. Having just set up Kyle Steyn for a line break, Russell stepped through the English defence and kicked the ball through for Ben White capitalise on a mistake by Ellis Genge and gather to score.
After a period of English possession, Arundell faced scrutiny again as he took Steyn out in the air. After his second yellow card of the half the try scoring winger left the pitch for good and England faced twenty minutes with 14 men.
Half Time: Scotland 24 – 10 England
Second Half
England burst back into the game with another 3 points gained from a scrum penalty in front of the posts.
The kicking battle between Russell and Ford resumed and England increased their physicality and pressure. Scotland brought their first half fire nonetheless, with the substitution of Pierre Schoemann enhancing their scrum.
Another moment of Scottish brilliance came as Matt Fagerson intercepted Ford’s drop goal attempt and offloaded to Jones who scored his second try of the match.
The Scots were consistently able to diffuse the threat of their opposition in the 22, preventing them from capitalising on their territory gain. England looked to the bench for solutions, but they continued to make errors in the red zone.
The crowd roared once again as Scotland edged closer to the try line, aided by advantages. After a clean line out and powerful maul, their forward phases weren’t enough to cross the try line as England won the turnover. Scotland quickly reestablished their dominance winning a penalty of their own.
Even when Ben Earl crossed the try line, his attempt was futile as he was held up by Jones. Following the goal line drop out, England were quick to return to the 22. Earl took advantage of his second chance to score, this time out wide and unmanned.
After the next phase of play it was Russell who kicked to ball to touch to confirm Scotland’s reclaiming of the Calcutta Cup and a bonus point win in round two of the Guinness 6 Nations.
Final Score: Scotland 31 – 20 England
Player of the match was awarded to Scotland no.14 Kyle Steyn.
Post Match
Following the defeat, England coach Steve Borthwick expressed his disappointment in the team’s struggle to convert territory to points.
He said: “I think what we certainly did was create lots of opportunities to score…We spent a lot of time in the opposition 22. Theres a lot of chances down in that end of the field and if we had taken some more chances maybe the game would have been different at the end of it. But we didn’t.”
England captain Maro Itoje said: “We play every game to win…We’ll review the game and as players will take accountability.”
On the other hand, Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu was elated with the win expressing that today’s effort was out of desperation to deliver after last week’s defeat.
He said: “A lot of our success in this fixture is because we take it really seriously about what it means to our supporters and our country.”
Player of the match Kyle Steyn said: “It was all about that level of affliction. It brings everyone into the game, and I think the pleasing thing from tonight was that it was started with our attack and backed up by our defence.”
Scotland’s head coach Gregor Townsend was quick to call last weeks loss irrelevant as he focused on today’s success.
He said: “These are the emotions that make me realise that coaching and still being involved in the game is hugely rewarding but it’s the players that drive the performance.“
Townsend highlighted the standard of play demonstrated by the halfbacks Russell and White, as well as the impressive performance of the team as a unit.
Finally, the head coach confirmed that Ritchie, Dobie, and Dempsey have sustained serious injuries that will be assessed in the coming week.
The Scotland squad will enjoy a week of training in Spain as they prepare to face Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff in two weeks’ time.
Note: Thank you to Scottish Rugby for accommodating us in the press deck and to Bryan Robertson for allowing us to use his incredible images from the game.
