And while Marcus Smith’s conversion from the Freeman try - crashing over from Alex Mitchell’s pass - put England ahead after Finn Russell missed his conversion, it was a signal for Scotland to take control.
And with England’s citizens Smith - Marcus and Fin - nailing four out of four between them, it meant England held out for a precious, if unlikely, victory.
Finn Russell’s will spend much of the next fortnight thinking about the missed conversion, pulled wide of the uprights after Duhan van der Merwe gave him chance to win it, with seconds left in normal time.
They were silenced in the last minute, van der Merwe scoring his traditional try against England but Russell missed again.
But a second missed conversion by Russell meant the gap was just three points and when Marcus Smith was handed a simple chance in front of the posts on 55 minutes it was, somehow, all square.
