About an hour after the final whistle on Saturday, England’s victorious players still swigging from the Calcutta Cup, Steve Borthwick was deep inside Twickenham discussing how his players finally got their hands back on the trophy.
“I’ve been very clear that I want the team to play with ball in hand, to attack with it, to be brave, aggressive with the ball, there is another team trying to stop you and they’re pretty good at it,” the head coach said.
There was no such booing two weeks earlier during another one-point victory, against France, yet the post-match statistics tell you Smith made more passes against Scotland than he did two weeks earlier.
Just 79 carries for 474 metres on Saturday compared with 95 for 700m against Les Bleus, two line‑breaks compared with eight a fortnight previous and – of course – one try that arguably should not have been awarded, compared with four scored against France.
They have also been accused of defensive frailties and, while Scotland enjoyed plenty of joy out wide – Duhan van der Merwe running riot down the left in the first half – England’s scrambling was again impressive on Saturday.
