Scotland vs England LIVE: Six Nations rugby score and result from Calcutta Cup today
Follow live reaction as England and Scotland kicked off their Six Nations campaigns in the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield
Finn Russell slotted a penalty eight minutes from time to earn Scotland a narrow 20-17 win over England on Saturday as they took advantage of a penalty try and a yellow card for the visitors to wrestle back control of an intense Six Nations game.
Scotland, 10-6 up at halftime, were 10-17 down when they were awarded a penalty try after England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie batted away a high cross-field pass. He was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. It proved the turning-point as with the one-man advantage, Scotland won a late penalty to snatch victory and take the Calcutta Cup for a second successive year.
Ben White scored Scotland’s other try while all England’s points came from young fly-half Marcus Smith, who crossed for a try and was unlucky to end on the losing side.
Follow all the latest reaction in the live blog below:
Scotland 10-6 England, 46 minutes
England draw penalty advantage at the lineout and try to suck bodies in to the maul.
A purposeful burst! Henry Slade arrives beautifully on Ben Youngs’ shoulder as the scrum-half holds the defensive line, and Darcy Graham is penalised for going beyond the ball and not supporting his body-weight as he tries to contest at the ruck.
Scotland 10-6 England, 44 minutes
England clear downfield and Darcy Graham sets off on a weaving return, hurrying about like a wind-up toy knocked off course. He runs into teammate Grant Gilchrist, who is somewhat unfortunate to be penalised for crossing - I’m not quite sure Graham quite knew where he was going, but the lock’s midriff was presumably not his intended destination.
Scotland 10-6 England, 43 minutes
Just the fourth scrum of the afternoon and instability again on the first attempt to get both eights to push legally. Ben O’Keeffe resets and then calls England for an eary drive.
Finn Russell biffs a grubber on the angle out of play just inside the England 22.
Scotland 10-6 England, 42 minutes
An error from Steward! The simplest of takes under no pressure and the England full-back spills it, perhaps guilty of considering his next move before the ball was safely in his grasp.
Scotland 10-6 England, 41 minutes
Ali Price takes his time over a box kick and hoists it high, with Freddie Steward rushing forward to take with trademark aplomb and calm. Max Malisn is caught behind the gainline but pivots nicely from a tackle, though not before the England momentum is stalled. Ben Youngs also sends something skywards - Stuart Hogg does the catching equally well.
Second half nears
Finn Russell has a last chat with Gregor Townsend in the sheds. Scotland have looked dangerous whenever they’ve had the ball, and lead despite having spent just seven seconds in the England 22 in the first half. What does the second 40 minutes have in store? There are no changes at the interval.
H/T: Scotland 10-6 England
An odd, if incredibly intriguing half, largely controlled by England, who have played some nice stuff but have perhaps been guilty of kicking slightly too often. Scotland have stood up well defensively with Steve Tandy’s unit again impressing, meaning that even with only about a quarter of territory they lead. Ben White’s score during his brief stint on the pitch while Ali Price was assessed was a good’un, with Scotland their attacking potency.
The question will be if Scotland’s heavy defensive workrate will fatigue them significantly in the second half. Their linespeed and collision intensity have been really, really strong, but England will be confident that they can capitalise if the hosts drop off.
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