England 6
Scotland 11
THEY WERE SINGING in the rain just after the final whistle. And you can understand why.
Thirty-eight years Scotland have waited for a moment like this. They’ve also had to wait 31 years to win four championship games in a row. This victory, fully deserved if wholly unexpected, has completely opened up this year’s Six Nations.
England, the defending champions and bookies favourites, now have to face in-form France at home and, significantly, Ireland and Wales away. All of a sudden there are five teams who firmly believe they can win the championship.
And yes, Scotland are one of those. They were brilliant here, led by their magnificent captain, Stuart Hogg, assisted by Sean Maitland, the wing, Duhan van der Merwe, their tryscorer and Jonny Gray.
England, missing four of their first choice pack, were woeful. This, remember, is a side who reached the World Cup final. You expect more. They delivered so little, bar Maro Itoje.
Coming into this game, Scotland had registered just one win from their previous 12 meetings with England and when Maro Itoje blocked down Ali Price’s attempted clearance in the opening exchanges, you sensed disaster.
What we didn’t expect then was what would unfold in the remainder of the first half, Scotland holding 71 per cent of possession, scoring eight points to England’s six.
They should have had more. Finn Russell was passing the ball crisply, kicking it inconsistently, though. Indeed it was another kick, an illegal one at Youngs that resulted in him spending 10 minutes in the bin either side of half-time.
Crucially, they only coughed up three points in this period. This Scotland performance for once, was living up to the hype.
They went ahead early with a Russell penalty and then proceeded to play some superb rugby, Cameron Redpath making some noticeable impressions on his debut, England’s scrum creaking in the 17th minute, the game shifting in its pattern on 23, when Billy Vunipola was sent to the bin for a high tackle on Russell.
By the time he returned, Scotland had scored a try, following a sustained period of pressure that saw Hamish Watson come close initially, later Duhan van der Merwe, who was cursing Russell for his wayward crossfield kick.
No matter. From Owen Farrell’s 22, Scotland counter-attacked, Russell kicking well for once, Sean Maitland chasing well, getting a crucial touch to the ball in the air. Suddenly the play switched to the left, where van der Merwe showed remarkable power to get across the tryline, the fourth time he has done so in six Scotland appearances.
Eight points up, you wondered then what the score would be at half-time. The Scots were on top, after all.
But England fought back, getting two penalties before the break, Farrell scoring both of them, Russell disappearing for 10 minutes in the bin just before the Saracens outhalf got the second of those penalties.
Significantly, though, they didn’t panic in his absence.
Captain Hogg was leading by his actions. If Russell’s kicking from hand was inaccurate, Hogg’s was not.
Maitland too was having a fine game and despite the 10-minute numerical disadvantage, they continued to dictate the terms of this game.
It helped that England continued to cough up penalties, a returning Russell profiting, by scoring a 49th minute penalty to stretch the lead up to 11-6.
They should have been further ahead, Russell missing a kickable chance on 53 minutes, while another missed chance, this time by their pack from an attacking maul on 57 minutes, let England off the hook.
In the end, though, it didn’t matter. England were clueless in attack, disjointed overall, suffering from the inactivity of their Saracen contingent. In contrast, Scotland played with ferocity and verve. Good things come to those to wait.
