Calcutta Cup: Scotland outplayed England from start to finish
Well, thought this Scots octogenarian at about 6.45 on Saturday 6 February 2021, at least I’m not going to die muttering “I was at Twickenham the last time we won there”. Nobody, except players, coaches, officials etc , was there yesterday of course, and even celebrations of what was at the very least one of the most satisfying victories since the Five Nations became Six in the year 2000, will have had to be private and muted. No dancing in the streets of Edinburgh or even Hawick, home-town of Scotland’s captain Hogg and also of course of the late great Bill McLaren.
The bare result makes it look a very close match, and figures are never altogether wrong. England might, right up to the final whistle, have broken away to snatch a victory. One could nervously picture it: a boot up the field, the ball taking a wicked bounce, then being hacked over the line by, say, the flying winger Jonny May whose try is then nervelessly converted by Owen Farrell. England 13- Scotland 11, and Scotland’s long agonising wait for a win at Twickenham continues.
It might have happened. It didn’t and, if it had, it would have been a travesty. This wasn’t a heroic backs-to-the-wall victory such as Scotland have brought off against England at Murrayfield a couple of times this century. On the contrary, they outplayed England from start to finish and this time it was the men in white jerseys who were required to offer heroic and, one must say, skilful defence. Defence kept England in touch, on the score board anyway, but after the first couple of minutes of the match when Maro Itoje charged down Ali Price’s clearing kick in the Scottish 22, only for England to be penalised at the subsequent breakdown, they scarcely ever looked like scoring a try.
Paradoxical as it may seem, England might have had a better chance if Scotland had gone further ahead, for they would then have had to take chances and run the ball instead of kicking it back to Scotland. As it was, their young inside centre Ollie Lawrence could be forgiven for wondering why he had been selected; he didn’ t receive a pass in the first forty minutes. In contrast, his opposite number Cameron Redpath was in the game from the start, and having the time of his life. That Redpath actually partnered Lawrence in the centre for England’s under-20 team before he opted for his father’s country rather than the one where he has spent most of his young life, makes the contrast in their fortunes yesterday that bit more piquant.
The Scottish forwards were immense in every area of the game. They were not only utterly committed – they have often been that in a losing cause; they were also efficient, as hasn’t always been the case. Even though it rained quite heavily in the second half, their handling was as secure as their judgement of when to pass and when to take the tackle. It may be invidious to pick out individuals, but three deserve special mention. Jonny Gray was magnificent, from the moment he stole an English line-out from Itoje. His move to Exeter has been good for him. At Twickenham he looked a truly great player, not the great one in waiting he has seemed to be for the last couple of seasons. Hamish Watson was immense. England’s back-row riches have been rightly celebrated; Watson was by some way the best back-row man on view. But he was only just ahead of young Matt Fagerson, the one forward whose selection had been questioned by many.
In advance one had thought that Scotland might need some magic from Finn Russell to win. In truth it wasn’t necessary. He had a deft game – even if the trip which cost him ten minutes in the bin might be called daft – and controlled things nicely, passing adroitly, kicking judiciously, keeping England on the back foot.; a mature conservative performance, no more than that. Man-of-the match went to Stuart Hogg, partly for his leadership, partly for some brilliant running from deep, and partly perhaps because all eight starting forwards might have been given the award collectively.
Scotland have now almost unobtrusively won four Six Nations matches in succession, beating France, Italy, Wales and England only the first of these matches being at Murrayfield. This is remarkable when one considers that for so long victories away have been rare as hen’s teeth anywhere but Rome. The Covid-required empty stadiums may have helped them to win in Wales and England. We’ll see what effect a silent and cavernous Murrayfield has when Wales come this next Saturday.
What now for England, only the day before yesterday favourites to retain the Six Nations title? They were poor and recriminations are in order. All fans are volatile, those who post on websites and elsewhere on social media especially so. They remind me of the poet Dryden’s judgement on a seventeenth century Politician: “Railing and praising were his usual theses,/ And both, to show his judgement, in extremes”. England, to such flighty folk, are either world -beaters or rubbish.
In truth they are a good team, and a very good one at their best, but one with a flaw that can be fatal. They find it difficult to react to finding themselves where they didn’t expect to be. Of course all teams find this hard to do; one thinks of the All Blacks when England ran them ragged in the World Cup semi-final. But it seems to happen to England more often than not. One would guess that they expected to dominate yesterday’s game up-front, and were at a loss what to do when they found this wasn’t the case.
Eddie Jones has taken responsibility for the defeat which has returned the Calcutta Cup to Scotland, and says he didn’t prepare his team properly. I daresay he may take a different line in the first team meeting. He is being criticized for his selection of Saracens players who, on account of their club’s misfortunes/misdemeanours, have played no rugby since early December. This seems fair comment, though one might remark that Townsend picked the Saracens wing Sean Maitland and he had one of the best of his many good matches for Scotland.
There will be a temptation for England, once the dust has settled, to write this off as one of these things, a bad day at the office, or to dwell on the three or four forwards Jones would have picked if they had been fit, willing and available. A fair point, even if the argument is diluted by previous boasts of the depth of England’s forward strength. What might provoke more serious thinking is the memory that in their previous match before losing to Scotland they only just scraped home, at Twickenham, against a ridiculously young and inexperienced French team in the final of the Autumn Nations Cup.
As for Scotland, the heroes of Twickenham may be permitted twenty four hours, even forty eight, to savour their historic triumph which puts Hawick’s Stuart Hogg on a pedestal beside Jim Aitken and Peter Brown, both then with Gala, as the only Scots to have captained a winning side at Twickenham in my lifetime. But then there’s no basking – back to preparing for the visit of Wales to Murrayfield on Saturday, preparation which will be sharpened equally by the achievement at Twickenham and by the knowledge that this will be devalued if this Six Nations run of victories is not carried another step further.