Scotland opened their 2022 Six Nations campaign with a gutsy 20-17 victory over England at Murrayfield this afternoon.
England dominated the possession and territory for the vast majority of the game in Edinburgh, but failed to make the most of their control as Scotland retained the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 1984 with another famous victory over their old rivals.
The visitors had marginally the better of the kicking battle in the opening stages, but were limited to just a Marcus Smith penalty to take the lead.
Scotland quickly responded, though, with debutant Ben White - only on as a temporary replacement - taking full advantage of his side's first real opportunity to touch down during his dream cameo.
A penalty apiece for either side ensured that the hosts still had a four-point lead at half time despite England's superior statistics in many categories, and it was more of the same in the second half too.
Eddie Jones's side did cross to take the lead through Smith's try and, while the fly-half missed the subsequent conversion, he then knocked over a penalty to take his personal points tally for the day to 17.
However, Scotland were handed a route back into the match when Luke Cowan-Dickie was ruled to have deliberately knocked on when trying to bat a crossfield kick into touch, resulting in a penalty try to level the scores.
Crucially, Cowan-Dickie was also sent to the sin bin, and during his time off the field Finn Russell nudged his side in front with what proved to be the decisive penalty.
England pushed for the win as the clock turned red, turning down a chance to kick for the draw, and that proved to be costly as a string of scrums eventually saw the visitors go wide and lose possession, allowing Scotland to kick it out for the win.
Scotland will now look to make it two wins from two against Wales next week, while England will be hoping to get off the mark against Italy. body check tags ::
