Scotland stun England in pulsating battle
England’s bid for a record third straight Six Nations Championship took an almighty lurch for the worse as proud Scotland brought off a brilliant upset result at Murrayfield, winning 25-13.
Exultant choruses of ‘Flower of Scotland’ and simple chants of ‘Scotland, Scotland’ greeted a collapsed scrum that gave a proud home pack breathing space with six minutes to play.
But the truth was that Scotland were very rarely on the rack, as their skilful play in possession and bossing of the breakdown helped preserve the lion’s share of astonishing 16-point lead at the interval.
Dylan Hartley’s reigning champs were also harried into a stream of crass errors, particularly in the second half.
The pre-match predictions that Scotland would need tries to unseat the tournament favourites were answered by three scores before the first half was up – two from centre Huw Jones and another from Sean Maitland, who will wear a broad smile next time he shows his face at his London club, Saracens, where six of this downed England 23 play. With just a solitary second-half score, a penalty by Finn Russell, the Scots had their highest points total against the old enemy since the Five Nations became Six in 2000, and a magnificent and thoroughly deserved first Calcutta Cup success since 2008.
England have dropped just the one match in the Six Nations in six out of the last seven seasons – the exception being the Grand Slam in Eddie Jones’s first year as head coach, 2016 – and they will probably have to keep that record going to retain their title now.
There is likely to be no room for further slip-ups in the visit to France in a fortnight followed by Championship leaders Ireland coming to Twickenham on 17 March – although Scotland will feel they are in the title hunt, too, having recovered from their first-day thrashing in Wales to defeat France and England at Murrayfield, and make it nine wins in 11 at the famous old stadium over the last past two years.
England had won 25 of the 29 meetings since Scotland beat them for the Grand Slam here in 1990, while the Scots had not scored a try in this fixture at Murrayfield for six and a bit matches, or roughly 500 minutes.