There is a Charlotte Brontë quote on the wall as you walk through the arrivals hall at Edinburgh Airport: “Who indeed that has once seen Edinburgh, but must see it again in dreams waking or sleeping”. Well, England will see Edinburgh in their nightmares, waking with a cold sweat as they picture another Murrayfield defeat, and their worst performance since losing to Fiji in the summer of 2023.
Scotland, in contrast, were in dreamland. The horrors of Rome a week ago forgotten as Gregor Townsend marked his 100th game in charge by masterminding a fifth Calcutta Cup victory in six years. Whether it is enough to change the long-term trajectory of this team will become clear through the championship. Too often, beating England has rescued an otherwise underwhelming campaign. But Scotland go to Wales next week revitalised; their potential for brilliance evident once again.
This was a test of Scotland’s unity and their faith in the coaching staff, it was a test of their mettle, their skills and their rugby intelligence. Scotland passed with flying colours. They transferred the post-Rome “desperation” articulated by Sione Tuipolotu, their captain, into a rollocking performance. In every area, bar the scrum, Scotland outperformed England, who were stunned, scruffy and inaccurate.
England came into this game on a run of 12 consecutive victories and exuding a calm control, but they swiftly found themselves chasing shadows as Scotland, triggered by Finn Russell’s genius, attacked with pace and precision.
In contrast, England’s skill levels cost them dear. They could not win anything in the air — not that they stopped hoisting high balls — and they butchered repeated attacking opportunities. England averaged a woeful 1.4 points from twelve entries into the opposition 22 and they conceded eight turnovers. England gave away only eight penalties, but they spent 30 minutes with 14 men after Henry Arundell received two yellow cards, the second triggering a 20-minute red.
At the official Six Nations launch in Edinburgh three weeks ago, Alex Williamson, the Scottish Rugby chief executive, took to the stage to preview a championship that he said featured “six teams who love and hate each other”. He then confessed that playing England on Valentine’s day was “not the romantic experience” he had been expecting.
Ye of little faith. This was a performance that gave the Scottish rugby public every reason to fall back in love with their national team. Things had cooled after Scotland failed to protect leads against New Zealand and Argentina in November, and then made a dismal start to the championship in Rome.
Arundell receives a second yellow card for wiping out Steyn in the air
TIM WILLIAMS/ACTION PLUS/SHUTTERSTOCK
The challenge for Scotland now is to maintain these levels and prove that the Italy defeat was an ugly anomaly. The atmosphere was unusually flat before kick-off, but belief began coursing around the stadium as England made a poor start. An early muscle flex and a 15-metre maul had Scotland on the retreat. It was a chance to play, but Alex Mitchell hoisted a contestable kick into the air.
Arundell won the ball back with a tap-down, but it bounced loose for Sione Tuipulotu, whose deep kick turned England. With that injection of optimism, Scotland piled forwards, earning a penalty, which Russell slotted with ease.
As much as England tried to tempt them, Scotland declined to engage in a tactical kicking battle for territory. Russell ran back Ford’s kick and Scotland broke England down the right, with Kyle Steyn searing outside of Mitchell and offloading to Huw Jones. Arundell was sin-binned for not releasing as he made a cover tackle on Rory Darge and adjusted for the jackal. It was a harsh call on replay, but Scotland turned the screw.
Jones beats Itoje after Russell’s wonderful flick-on
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Russell’s sumptuous flick, as Roebuck bore down on him inside England’s 22, moved the ball wide for Jones and the Glasgow centre scored his first of two tries, taking his Calcutta Cup tally to nine. Now Murrayfield was bouncing.
England had no foothold in the game and continued to feed Scotland’s momentum. A no-arms tackle from Luke Cowan-Dickie gifted possession back to Scotland and they streaked forward again, through Jones and Steyn’s carving runs in from the right. England were sliced open, and all the while Jamie Ritchie was lurking in acres of space down the left. Tuipulotu found him with a raking pass off his right hand. Russell landed the conversion. Scotland were 17-0 up. Bedlam.
The joy was laced with anxiety. This was Scotland, after all. They had blown those leads in November. That fact will not have been lost on England as the men in white huddled under the posts, trying to regain their wits. With their first consistent piece of possession, England scored.
England built pressure inside the Scotland 22 off the back of a scrum penalty, and Ford slid a delicious pass to Arundell, who returned from the sin-bin to score. It was classic Ford. The game was moving at a million miles an hour, but he held his feet, waited until Russell was on him, and then slipped the ball to his wing.
Ford’s drop-goal attempt is charged down…
JANE BARLOW/PA
…and Scotland run the length of the field to score
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With Ritchie then pinged for offside, Ford slotted a simple penalty, and England were back in the game. But Scotland were injecting chaos, keeping the pace high and forcing England to chase them around the park as they ran back Ford’s long kicks.
Russell was having one of his magic halves. He evaded two poor tackles, including one from Sam Underhill and then somehow kicked out of contact. Ellis Genge was the man retreating to cover the bouncing ball, and he spilled it under pressure from Ben White, gifting a third Scotland try to the scrum half. Wild scenes.
Everything was going right for Scotland and wrong for England, who cut out the errors. Cowan-Dickie knocked on from a maul inside Scotland’s 22. Ford lofted another high ball for Arundell to chase. As Steyn leapt skywards, Arundell did not get off the ground, and he wiped out the Scotland wing. It was a clear yellow card and a 20-minute red for the Bath wing.
Could Scotland maintain this tempo for a full 80 minutes? Underhill, after an unusually poor performance, was replaced at the interval by Tom Curry. Scotland’s Matt Fagerson was on for Ritchie. England began the second half as they began the first, by failing to capitalise on a mighty maul.
A scrappy knock-on did at least offer England’s dominant scrum an opportunity to pile in, and they did. Zander Fagerson was put on a yellow card warning. Ford kicked the points and then drilled England downfield, but another 22 entry went begging with another knock-on, this time from Genge. And then another. With advantage from a scrum penalty, England tried to chisel through, sending up Tommy Freeman on direct carries, but they were numbers down and found no space.
Genge raced back to deal with Russell’s kick but couldn’t gather, allowing White to score
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Ford pulled back for the drop goal. This was the pivotal moment in the game. Any comeback hinged on England leaving with points, but England’s fly half did not stand deep enough in the pocket. His routine is not snappy and Scotland flooded through on to him. Matt Fagerson charged down the kick, regathered, and sent Jones streaking away for a fourth try and the game.
As the anthem echoed around the bowl, the answer to the half-time question was undoubtedly in the affirmative. Ben Earl crossed for a late consolation, but England had been distinctly outplayed, humbled by an 80-minute performance from Scotland that they will see in their nightmares.
Scotland T Jordan (D Graham 69); K Steyn, H Jones, S Tuipulotu (c), J Dobie (A Hastings 74), F Russell, B White (G Horne 58); N McBeth (P Schoeman 49), G Turner (D Cherry 51), Z Fagerson (E Millar Mills 51), G Brown, S Cummings, J Ritchie (M Fagerson 41), R Darge, J Dempsey (M Williamson 57).
England F Steward; T Roebuck, T Freeman, F Dingwall, H Arundell (sent-off 38) (F Smith 57), G Ford, A Mitchell (B Spencer 69); E Genge (B Rodd 57), L Cowan-Dickie (J George 57), J Heyes (T Davison 68), M Itoje (c) (A Coles 57), O Chessum, G Pepper (H Pollock 57), S Underhill (T Curry 41), B Earl.
Referee N Amashukeli (Geo).