Key events
Penalty! Scotland 17-10 England (Ford, 26)
After shipping 17 points, England have now responded with 10 on the bounce. Game on!
25 min: Chessum plucks an intercept around halfway but Scotland rally and have the ball back. Until the kick it down field and Ford has it. Then Mitchell almost sniping through a half gap. Another penalty, this one against Ritchie, against Scotland for straying offside. Itoje consults the referee but he’s not having it. After a consultation with Ford, the England captain points to the posts. Should be a gimme for Ford right in front on the 22.
24 min: Swing Low rings out as England gather the restart. Mitchell hoists a high box and finds good touch around halfway. That gives us a chance to catch our breath. File the opening quarter of this one under H for humdinger.
TRY! Scotland 17-7 Scotland (Arundell, 22)
It’s raining tries! Off the line-out it felt inevitable. England kept hammering the line and hammering the line and hammering the line. Scottish defenders were sucked in and then a slick dummy and pass from Ford made the space for Arundell to his right. An easy conversion makes it a 10 point game.
20 min: England win the scrum penalty! They kick to the corner and will set a line-out five out.
19 min: England again have the ball after a scrappy line-out. They’re into the 22. All a bit one-up runners. Nothing too slick yet but they are keeping the ball. Seven phases. Ford spills it but backwards so they come agaib. Seven phases. Jones steps forward and makes a hit, holding the ball carrier up and winning the turnover. Scotland will have the scrum feed as Arundell rejoins the party with drinks all over the floor and the DJ playing howlers (does that party metaphor land?)
17 min: England have a line-out inside their own patch but it’s messy. They have it, but it didn’t work, whatever they were planning. So Mitchell hoists a high kick. Jones comes to get it but he’s helped by a teammate who obstructed the English chaser. So penalty for England.
TRY! Scotland 17-0 England (Ritchie, 14)
WHAT A START FOR SCOTLAND! Unreal scenes. They move the ball so quickly from the line-out. Russell straightens and then finds Dobie on the wraparound who then hits Steyn with a long floating pass on the right wing. He cuts back infield and they recycle the ball. Tuipulotu has it and luanches a long ball for Ritchie who is all alone on the left. He catches and walks over for a stunner. Russell nudges the extras and, oh my goodness, it’s 17-0!
13 min: Another spiralling high kick forces a mistake and Scotland have the scrum feed. In fact, they get the penalty as Cowan-Dickie is nailed by the TMO for tackling a Scot without the use of his arms. Easy exit from their 22 for Scotland as Russell finds touch down town.
TRY! Scotland 10-0 England (Jones, 10)
Outstanding from Russell! Form really goes out the window when Scotland play England. This is brilliant all round. Ball was clean from the line-out but the move crabbed from right to left. Nothing was happening until Russell tipped on a pass, as if he was swatting away a fly, and managed to get it to Jones who gathered and pinned his ears down as he found the edge and scored. Russell then slots the extras. The breakdown speed, the continuity, its all Scotland right now.
Yellow card, England! Arundell, 9
The winger doesn’t release the tackler as Scotland were cantering up field and looking dangerous. So he’ll have 10 minutes to contemplate his wicked ways as Scotland build from the line-out.
7 min: A bit of kick tennis until Russell gathers, runs, dummies the chaser and tees up a mate on his outside. Then Scotland kick again and win the ball back. There’s going to be a lot of looking up for both players this afternoon. Steyn has. He finds Jones. Scotland flooding forward. Brilliant. They now have a penalty and there’s a yellow card against Arundell! All Scotland as they ponder what to do inside England’s 22. Russell nudges to the corner.
6 min: England knock on as Arundell’s chase from the restart is spilled forward. Scotland’s scrum creaked against Italy’s. Will England target a penalty? They do, but Scotland get away with it as England went a little early. Free kick to the Scots.
Penalty! Scotland 3-0 England (Russell, 5)
Scotland on the board. Slick and quick from the hosts. They take a deserving lead with Russell’s swinging right boot.
4 min: Quick ball from Scotland thanks to Tuipulotu running at Ford. White has it fizzing. Ritchie with a stiff carry against the grain. Darge with it inside the 22. Advantage for Scotland. Dempsey wriggles from Chessum. Zander Fagerson burrows. Russell tries to unleash a mate out to the right but they’re going backwards so we come back for the penalty. Three points on offer which Russell accepts, bang in front of the sticks.
2 min: England get a meaty rumble on from the line-out and hoist a high kick off the back of it. Tuipulotu returns the kick and chases after it, putting England under pressure. Nice swift start from both teams. Scotland have the line-out on England’s 22 as Mitchell’s clearing kick was skewed off the boot.
George Ford gets us underway!
If we could distill the feeling when the music cuts out in Flower of Scotland, and the fans take over, we’d be millionaires.
Hook that right into my vein and call me in a week!
Loads made about Scotland’s team. A 5-3 bench split. No Duhan ven der Merwe. No Blair Kinghorn.
Once again, all eyes on Finn Russell’s magic hands and feet.
The players are out. Murrayfield looks delicious! If you’re reading this and you’ve not seen a Test at this famous ground, if you’ve not hear Flower of Scotland belted out to the shrill blast of bagpipes, you have yo make a plan. It’s one of the special grounds in rugby.
Moving beyond the boundary, but let’s tip a cap to England’s impressive skipper.
Maro Itoje speaks the truth here and has my respect:
Our regular contributor Guy Hornsby has been in touch:
Afternoon Daniel. A cracker in Dublin and now it’s Murrayfield, where I can’t see England getting done, BUT 10% of me is waiting to get an almighty slap of hubris in my face. Scotland have been much less than the sum of their parts and England are as cohesive as they’ve been in a decade. But if Scotland are up for any game, it’s this one. It’s a proper Test, and nothing would signal the burgeoning strength of this England team then a no bother win. The bench will be crucial but George Ford is the key to all of it. Bring it on!
I’ve consulted the Opta supercomputer and it’s not looking good for the hosts.
The big numbers have been crunched and they point to a 31-16 win for England who have a 74.1% chance of leaving Edinburgh with a victory on the occasion of Gregor Townsend’s 100th game in charge of Scotland.
England have already beaten Scotland once today.
Though even that was closer than many might have predicted.
Daniel Gallan
Everything points to an English victory. Form, logic, reason, the laws of nature.
But none of that counts in this, does it? This is Scotland. This is Murrayfield. This is the land of bagpipes and tartan and haggis and all the other cliches that swirl around the discourse whenever the aul enemy have the temerity to roll up north and expect a triumph.
I’ll be honest. I can’t see Scotland winning this. But then how many times have we said that before?
Italy just gave Ireland a proper shock. Could Scotland flip the script and rally like those woad-painted warriors of old?
We’ll find out soon.
The teams
Scotland: Jordan, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu (c), Dobie, Russell, White; McBeth, Turner, Z Fagerson, Brown, Cummings, Ritchie, Darge, Dempsey.
Replacements: Cherry, Schoeman, Millar-Mills, Williamson, M Fagerson, Horne, Hastings, Graham.
England: Steward, Roebuck, Freeman, Dingwall, Arundell, Ford, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Heyes, Itoje (c), Chessum, Pepper, Underhill, Earl.
Replacements: George, Rodd, Davison, Coles, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, F Smith.
Preamble
Daniel will be here shortly. Until then, we’ve got plenty of preview material to pass the time before kick-off in this Calcutta Cup showdown.
