POWER OF SCOTLAND
10 years of hurt banished by 80 minutes of sublime brilliance
DAVID SOLE’S VERDICT: Lacklustre England sent home with their tails between their legs
SCOTLAND 25 ENGLAND 13
Scotland stunned the championship favourites to rack up their biggest-ever Six Nations win against England.
Three first-half tries, two from Huw Jones, laid the platform as Eddie Jones tasted defeat for only the second time in his 26-match tenure as England coach.
Amid reports of a bust-up in the tunnel as the players left the pitch after warming up, with Owen Farrell allegedly having to be dragged away by his team-mates and Scotland skipper John Barclay doing likewise with some of his troops, there was a definite edge to the early exchanges.
And Scotland drew first blood, England No. 8 Hughes was pinged for holding on at the tackle and Laidlaw confidently slotted the first three points of the afternoon.
The crowd had obviously heard about the scuffle and Farrell was booed every time he touched the ball, but it didn’t put him off kicking the equalising penalty 10 minutes later when Hamish Watson was pinged for not releasing.
Parity was shortlived, though, as, from a maul, Russell put a grubber through the England cover, Jones sclaffed it on a bit more and then gathered to notch his ninth try in 14 caps, becoming only the third Scot to score against the Auld Enemy at Murrayfield in the Six Nations era and the first since 2004.
A stupid penalty for obstruction allowed Farrell to immediately reduce the deficit and, make no mistake, this was a ferocious contest with real steel to it.
Scotland got in their opponents’ faces and forced England into uncharacteristic errors, particularly with their passing.
The Scots scored another try on the halfhour – and it was a belter. Russell floated a pass out to Jones who made the hard yards before being hauled down.
The ball was shifted across the paddock, McInally made another big push and finally Maitland finished off a breathless passage of play by diving in at the corner.
England’s discipline started to slip, with Brown penalised for illegally taking out Hamish Watson and Danny Care trying to have a pop at Russell, which the Scots’ fly-half simply laughed off before Ryan Wilson and Nathan Hughes exchanged pleasantries.
Jones then collected a pass and steamed up the pitch. Nothing was going to stop him bagging his brace and he dragged England’s Brown and Watson over the whitewash with him and the sides swapped ends with the home XV 22-6 to the good.
As the Scots headed down the tunnel, England stayed on the pitch for a moment, unwilling to risk a rerun of the earlier stramash, before being jeered off by the passionate home crowd.
They were hushed three minutes after the restart, mind you, when Farrell spotted a gap in the Scots line and beat Gilchrist on his outside shoulder to dot down before converting his own score.
It was definitely game on at this point and England thought they’d got another try when Care scampered clear, but referee Nigel Owens called him back for a Scotland penalty and Hogg was just off target with his attempt from five metres into enemy territory.
The crowd was on its feet as Horne broke clear but, with Watson, Jones and Maitland outside him, he delayed the pass and cost his side a certain score.
Farrell thought he had a second score when the ball was spilled as Scotland went through the phases, but the TMO confirmed an England knock-on and the crowd breathed again.
England’s discipline deteriorated further as they penalty count mounted, and replacement No. 8 Underhill was sinbinned for a dangerous and cynical no-arms tackle on Jamie Bhatti with Russell kicking the penalty for good measure.