Scotland stun England for first win at Twickenham since 1983
SCOTLAND rose to the occasion by winning the landmark 150th international against England just as they had the first meeting in Edinburgh in 1871.
In between times the England have had the better of it by some distance, but this was truly one for the ages for the Scots. This first win at Twickenham in 38 years – and only their fifth at the home of English rugby – saw them not only lift the Calcutta Cup, but knock the reigning champions off their perch.
As Scotland’s outstanding captain Stuart Hogg and his men leaped for joy on a pitch that has brought them so much pain, they could reflect on doing a ruthlessly professional job by outplaying a desperately flat, disappointing England side in every department.
Pre-match reports that the Scottish forwards were going to get after an English pack weakened by front row injuries were soon confirmed, and the much-vaunted strength-indepth of Eddie Jones’ side proved significantly shallower than expected.
The Scots disrupted England at the scrum, where Scottish props Rory Sutherland and Zander Fagerson put the heat on Will Stuart and Ellis Genge, and at the lineout, where Scotland’s unsung hero Scott Cummings was almost flawless as was Jonny Gray.
In the loose the momentum was wrenched off the English loose trio, with both Scottish flankers, Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie, trumping Tom Curry and Mark Wilson in attack and defence.
There was also a points victory for the young Scotland No.8 Matt Fagerson, because Billy Vunipola struggled to make his usual headway. Vunipola’s lack of match-practice showed, as it did with his Saracens teammates Owen Farrell, Jamie George, and Elliot Daly, with only Maro Itoje able to rise to the occasion.
While Itoje moved might and main to spike Scotland’s guns, Vunipola was guilty of priming them, compounding England’s lack of traction at close quarters when he was sinbinned for a high tackle on Finn Russell midway through the first-half, reducing his side to 14-men.
England paid the price when the Scottish playmaker set his backs in motion to exploit the numerical advantage, putting the strapping South African import, Duhan van Merwe, over in the corner for the only try of the match just before the half hour.
It proved to be the decisive moment of the contest, but all the indicators were pointing firmly in Scotland’s favour from the outset, with Russell mixing his game cleverly and Scotland’s cross-border Bath debutant, Cameron Redpath, showing an elusiveness that none of the English backs got close to.
When England scuffed their way to an extra-time victory over a second string France in early December to win the Autumn Nations Cup by the finest of margins they were given the benefit of the doubt. They were given the plaudits for digging themselves out of a tight spot, despite being badly below par.
However, all the talk of the importance of making a good start to this match, and to the 2021 Six Nations went up in smoke as an urgent, cohesive Scotland dominated the first half against a lacklustre, disjointed England outfit.
Ironically, it was England who had the first tryscoring chance when, in the first minute, Itoje charged down an Ali Price clearance, and then dived on it a few metres from the Scottish line. It all came to nothing, though, because Jonny Hill was judged to have gone off his feet clearing the ruck. After that it was pretty well one-way traffic in favour of the side in blue, with England’s chronic indiscipline their biggest handicap. This was made worse by their complete inability to adapt to the referee, who honed-in on their breakdown and scrum indiscretions.
By half-time they had conceded nine penalties and were not even close to a foothold in the game.
No sooner had Itoje been repelled than the Scots benefitted from the home side conceding four penalties in the first five minutes, with the last of them finishing with a penalty in front of the posts which saw Russell give them a 3-0 lead.
From then on the Scots were faster in thought anddeed and more adventurous. They were also winning the territorial battle thanks to the ball-carrying superiority and control of their forwards in the loose – as well as an edge at the scrum which eventually saw them crack the English defence.
After four re-set scrums five metres from the English line from the 25th to the 28th minute, the Scots looked as if they might have wasted their pressure point when Russell’s crosskick for Van der Merwe bounced over the winger’s head for touch-in-goal.
However, England’s relief was short-lived, because from the drop-out Russell launched an up-andunder which Sean Maitland secured and, from the recycle, pinpoint handling from Russell, followed by a superbly weighted long pass by Redpath to Hogg, saw George Turner’s pass give Van der Merwe a tilt at the tryline. A missed tackle by Daly helped the winger on his way, and he had enough heft to ride Wilson’s solid tackle and ground the ball on the line.
Russell missed the touchline conversion and Scotland then saw their 8-0 lead trimmed when Farrell kicked a long-range penalty from one of the few the Scots conceded for 8-3.
Their lead was put in further jeopardy when their quixotic fly-half was sinbinned four minutes from the interval for a blatant trip on Ben Youngs, which Farrell kicked for 8-6.
However, any sense that England would summon a