England’s luck finally turns to end Calcutta Cup misery as Finn Russell suffers late agony

England 16-15 Scotland: Russell’s late conversion drifted wide as England held on for a dramatic Calcutta Cup victory for the first time in five years. For the second game in a row, England found a way. Having been battered and beaten by a relentless Scotland, Steve Borthwick’s side somehow stayed in the contest, edged into the lead and rode their luck to hold on to the most dramatic of 16-15 wins and finally end their half-decade of Calcutta Cup woe.

There was some irony to the fact that it was England’s tormentor-in-chief from the recent past, Finn Russell, who, having already missed two earlier kicks, saw his touchline conversion at the death drift agonisingly wide to leave the visitors one paltry point short in the final reckoning. So often the match-winner, he took on a more heartbreaking role to leave the men in white exhausted but celebrating the end of a streak.

“I don’t want to do that again,” chuckled a still shell-shocked Ollie Chessum on the pitch immediately after the win, referencing the nail-biting finale. There was likely a sizable contingent of fans inside Allianz Stadium, Twickenham who would agree as they try to get their heart-rate back down to a normal level before going back to work on Monday morning.

It’s now three Six Nations contests on the spin where England have been dominated in the first half, yet have battled to stay in the match at the halfway mark. While Ireland eventually proved too strong in Dublin on the opening weekend, Elliot Daly’s late try downed France a fortnight ago and now the ever-so-slightly errant boot of Russell, combined with the pinpoint kicking of England’s twin Smiths – Marcus and son of Scottish parents Fin – delivered long-sought retribution over their oldest foe.

After 12 months of exhibiting an almost comical inability to see out close games during a frustrating losing streak against tier-one nations, England are suddenly cashing in all their chips to grab narrow wins at the death. It’s not a particularly sustainable way to build a winning run but improvements even from the France clash were evident. Whereas the superstars of Les Bleus inexplicably butchered countless golden chances, Gregor Townsend’s troops may also have left points on the field but they were largely stymied by brilliant – if desperate – scramble defence despite their three tries.

And England needed every bit of targeted desperation to down a Scotland side that have proved their nemesis during a 1,477-day run of Calcutta Cup success – the longest amount of time in the 154-year history of this fixture that the men from north of the border have held the trophy.

The Scots were targeting a fifth straight win over the Auld Enemy for the very first time and when Ben White and Huw Jones went over for two typically spectacular early tries, it appeared to be recent business as usual. Yet the hosts stayed close, stepped on the accelerator in the second half to build a narrow lead and then survived that conversion attempt after Duhan van der Merwe’s late score for the most rewarding of victories. Suddenly, the Borthwick project has momentum, with England now expected to end the Six Nations with four wins for the first time since their 2020 title triumph, while Townsend may face existential questions about his reign.

‘Toonie’ has turned Scotland into a consistently competitive force, yet a golden generation of players have not yet been able to genuinely challenge for the trophy. Could another man – perhaps Glasgow Warriors’ URC-winning boss Franco Smith, who has been sending not-so-subtle signals about wanting to return to international coaching – get them over the hump?.

That is a question for another day but such is the strength of feeling evoked by the Calcutta Cup that it can alter the entire trajectory of a team’s future. Just three minutes and 33 seconds into proceedings however, England could have been forgiven for thinking ‘not again’... Scotland have made a habit of scoring not just any tries but incredible, barely believable tries in the Calcutta Cup over the past few years and promptly added another to the pantheon.

Van Der Merwe, perhaps the ultimate England exterminator during this run of dominance, inevitably started the move as he surged around the outside of Ollie Lawrence before sumptuously offloading to Blair Kinghorn. Two more gorgeous passes from Kinghorn and Tom Jordan meant White was suddenly galloping over the line.

England responded with a more prosaic try as Tommy Freeman biffed his way over the line and Marcus Smith – restored to kicking duties after his French nightmare saw him stripped mid-game a fortnight ago – added a nerve-settling conversion but Scotland soon dug into the box of tricks supplied by their annual transformation into the Harlem Globetrotters of Six Nations rugby for this fixture with a second stunning score.