Consider the Calcutta Cup form books once again tossed out of the window. What is it about this fixture, what is it about this Scotland side? After defeat to Italy, Gregor Townsend’s tenure and team had seemed listless, almost lifeless, an emptying vessel; we will find out what restorative effect a few sups of sweet spirit from the Calcutta Cup can have after a dismantling of England that no-one saw coming.
Add another Murrayfield horror show to England’s haunting recent history. The Calcutta Cup has provided a few dark days for recent visitors here but never anything quite like this, a side who bounced up over the border on a run of 12 consecutive victories sent home to think again. Defeat may not be terminal to their Six Nations chances but the prospect of a grand slam charge, which seemed realistic ahead of kick off, swirled swiftly away into the crisp Edinburgh skies.
Steve Borthwick is a pragmatic thinker but even his brow was furrowed. Only the visitors’ scrum emerged from the wreckage of a Scotch demolition job in credit. English errors came early and often, providing the beat to which Scotland jigged. Henry Arundell saw red for two yellow cards, one cynical, one clumsy; Ellis Genge’s gaffe gifted a try; George Ford’s blocked drop goal provided a ten-point swing. Everything that could go wrong for England just about did; yesterday had been Friday the 13th, after all.
“Clearly playing such a large part of the game without a winger against a team that is moving the ball to the edge that much hurt us,” borthwick said. “Ultimately it gave us too much to do in the second half. Unfortunately we gave them too much of a head start and gave ourselves too much to do and playing 30 minutes of that first 50 with 14 men hurt us”
On match eve, home captain Sione Tuipulotu had spoken of a “desperation” in the Scottish ranks, a drive to make amends for the missteps and mistakes of Rome. That manifested itself most magnificently in a 15-minute opening salvo from Scotland as good as any as they have produced in recent memory. England could not handle their ferocity.
The warning shot was fired almost immediately, the first contestable kick tapped back into home hands and only a scrambling Alex Mitchell saving a score. Nae matter – two more breaks soon arrived, resulting in a Finn Russell penalty to start the scoring and a yellow card to Arundell for a ruck infringement.
Then came a more telling blow. Huw Jones has been among England’s Calcutta Cup tormentors in chief over the last decade and six tries in this fixture soon became a magnificent seven courtesy of Russell’s volleyball-style tap on. Five minutes later, captains present and past combined to great effect, Tuipulotu arcing a pass virtually across the Firth of Forth to find Jamie Ritchie all alone on the left edge.
England, who had spoken all week of avoiding the sort of thunderbolts that have hit them here before, looked shellshocked. Only their scrum gave them any sort of foothold, allowing Arundell – back from his stint on the naughty step – to transport a neat Ford dummy and toss under the posts.
That was about the only bright moment, though, as the evening gloom descended for the visitors. One can now add Genge’s clumsy sliding fumble, which gifted Ben White a try following a Russell chip, to a catalogue of English errors here over the years swelling to encyclopaedia size. More material was on the way – an out-of control Arundell collided with Kyle Steyn in the air; two yellows turning to red, bad turning to worse for the visitors.
If England were seeing ghosts, they were failing to grasp them. There had already been 20 missed tackles before half time. Even Ford, their old reliable, was faltering; an attempt to narrow the gap with a drop goal instead extending it, Matt Fagerson charging the fly half down and sending Jones racing away to his second. “At 24-13, you get that drop goal then it is 24-16 and there were still 24 minutes left,” Borthwick reflected. “That is a different complexion. To go down the other end and lose seven points, that 10-point swing was big. But there were plenty of other small moments in that game that added up to that result.”
England’s power-packed bench had swung plenty of tight contests their way on the long winning run, yet this was a different sort of Test. Besides, their arrival came out of necessity: Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje both trudged off early, while Fin Smith was forced into an unfamiliar role at inside centre to accommodate the absence of Arundell. The shuffling that followed, with Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman also forced into alternative roles, reflected minds muddled again by Murrayfield’s strange brew.
All the while, the home fans re-found their voices. Even the Townsend loyalists had come to question if this era had run its course after events in Rome, though a showing like this surely stirred Scottish souls. A few harsh critics might wonder why the blue moon from which this performance was plucked only seems to appear on Calcutta Cup day – for now, though, and despite a late Ben Earl consolation, they could guzzle again on renewed optimism long into the night. “We had to rise to the occasion today because we didn’t really have a choice,” Tuipulotu said. “I’m proud that we delivered that performance.”
