England secured their first win over Scotland since 2020 to regain the Calcutta Cup after Finn Russell missed a last-gap conversion that would have made history for the away team.
The Scots were seeking to beat the Red Roses for a fifth consecutive meeting for the first time ever but Russell missed the kick at Twickenham. He missed all three of his attempts on Saturday evening.
And that helped allow Steve Borthwick’s men to follow up the upset of France with another monumental victory that keeps their title hopes alive.
Express Sport hands out the player ratings after England’s dramatic 16-15 win…
ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS
15. MARCUS SMITH – Run over by Van der Merwe for Scots’ second and butchered one try 5
14 TOMMY FREEMAN – Powerful finish through three defenders for first score but needs using more 6
13 OLLIE LAWRENCE – Worked hard in defence and had to and also made a couple of big busts 8
12 HENRY SLADE – Couple of neat kicks in behind Scotland defence but no real front foot threat 7
11 OLLIE SLEIGHTHOLME – Struggled defending against high ball and replaced very early in second half 5
10 FIN SMITH – Monster penalty in second half and put in a pile of tackles for a fly-half 9
9 ALEX MITCHELL – Loads of kicking from scrums but surprisingly replaced on the hour by Randall 6
1 ELLIS GENGE – Got one over massive French scrum last week and did the same to the Scots 7
2 LUKE COWAN-DICKIE – Replaced after 44 minutes and not as effective as he was against French 5
3 WILL STUART – Having a very good Six Nations and had the wood over Pierre Schoeman 8
4 MARO ITOJE (CAPT) – Crucial line out steal at the death and usual nuisance at maul time and on ground 8
5 OLLIE CHESSUM – First start since last March and showed what England have been missing 8
6 TOM CURRY – Brilliant in first two games but less here after taking first half knock 6
7 BEN EARL – Energy giver for England and carried well but gave away a couple of penalties 6
8 TOM WILLIS – Carried well from base before head knock and off on 36 mins 6
Replacements: Jamie George (for Cowan-Dickie 44), Fin Baxter (for Genge 57), Joe Heyes (for Stuart 71), Ted Hill (for Chessum 80), Chandler Cunningham-South (for Tom Curry 46), Ben Curry (for Willis 36), Harry Randall (for Mitchell 61), Elliot Daly (for Sleightholme 44)
SCOTLAND PLAYER RATINGS
15 BLAIR KINGHORN – Toulouse star hit the line at pace and caused all sorts of problems 7
14 KYLE ROWE – A real handful coming off his wing and chasing game was spot on 7
13 HUW JONES – Loves playing against England and a potent threat in lively back division 7
12 TOM JORDAN – Kiwi-born centre had the freedom of Twickenham in the first half 6
11 DUHAN VAN DER MERWE – A nightmare to play against and made two first half scores 9
10 FINN RUSSELL (CO-CAPT) – Final conversion miss will haunt him forever and didn’t deserve that 7
9 BEN WHITE – Former England under-20s scored yet against the country of his birth – lively 6
1 PIERRE SCHOEMAN – Came second best at scrum time in tussle with Will Stuart 5
2 DAVE CHERRY – Missed first line out but top darts after that and heavily involved 6
3 ZANDER FAGERSON – Lions contender but was given a going over at the set-piece by Genge 5
4 JONNY GRAY – Part of a good Scotland line out and got involved around the paddock 5
5 GRANT GILCHRIST – Again good in the set-piece and did his shift carrying in traffic 5
6 JAMIE RITCHIE – Superb from the former captain who was a pest at the breakdown 7
7 RORY DARGE (CO-CAPT) – First game at Twickenham but no stage fright in good showing at breakdown 6
8 JACK DEMPSEY – Aussie-born No.8 was quiet with the ball and replaced early after break 5
Replacements: Ewan Ashman (for Cherry 55) 5, Jamie Bhatti (for Schoeman 71) 4, Will Hurd (for Z.Fagerson 76) 4, Sam Skinner (for Gray 61) 5, Gregor Brown (for Gilchrist 71) 5, Matt Fagerson (for Dempsey 55) 5, Jamie Dobie (For White 64) 5, Stafford McDowall (Rowe 64) 5
Referee: Pierre Brousset (FRA)
Scorers
England: Try: Freeman; Con: M.Smith; Pens: M.Smith (2), F.Smith
Scotland: Tries: White, Jones, Van der Merwe
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