Scotland’s bid for a record fifth consecutive Calcutta Cup win ended yesterday as England reclaimed the trophy in a pulsating contest at Allianz Twickenham.
The Scots opened the scoring in the 5th minute with a try from Ben White. Finn Russell missed the extras.
Four minutes later the home side responded when Tommy Freeman burrowed over from close range and Fin Smith converted.
But Gregor Townsend’s men regained the lead in the 20th minute when Huw Jones finished off a great move by running in from 15 metres. The conversion attempt failed to hit the target.
That was the end of the scoring in the first-half.
Fifteen minutes after the restart England levelled the score with a 30-meter penalty from Marcus Smith after Scotland were penalised for not rolling away.
Another Smith penalty, this time for offisde gave England a three-point advantage in the 66th minute.
Then four minutes later more indiscipline from the Scots resulted in Fin Smith kicking over fully 50 metres to extend England’s lead.
However, with one minute remaining on the clock a Stafford McDowall’s stampede through the centre of the pitch, teed up Russell and Blair Kinghorn who in turn gifted Duhan van der Merwe an easy run-in to get to within a point.
Russell’s conversion attempt from wide once again missed the target and the cup went to England.
Full-time: England 16-15 Scotland
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse), Kyle Rowe, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan (all Glasgow Warriors), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby); Finn Russell (Bath Rugby) (co-captain), Ben White (Toulon); Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry (both Edinburgh Rugby), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Jonny Gray (Bordeaux-Bègles), Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie (both Edinburgh Rugby), Rory Darge (co-captain), Jack Dempsey (both Glasgow Warriors).
Replacements: Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Cherry, 54 mins), Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) (for Schoeman, 70 mins), Will Hurd (Leicester Tigers) (for Z. Fagerson, 76 mins), Sam Skinner (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Gray, 62 mins), Gregor Brown (Glasgow Warriors) (for Gilchrist, 70 mins), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) (for Dempsey, 54 mins), Jamie Dobie (Glasgow Warriors) (for White, 64 mins), Stafford McDowall (Glasgow Warriors) (for Jones, 64 mins).
England: Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Ollie Sleightholme, Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart, Maro Itoje (captain), Ollie Chessum, Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Tom Willis.
Replacements: Jamie George, Fin Baxter, Joe Heyes, Ted Hill, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Curry, Harry Randall, Elliot Daly.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
