LUCKY England somehow survived a Calcutta Cup ordeal to get their first win over Scotland since the pandemic – and keep their Six Nations title hopes alive.
Finn Russell’s will spend much of the next fortnight thinking about the missed conversion, pulled wide of the uprights after Duhan van der Merwe gave him chance to win it, with seconds left in normal time.
But while Scotland scored three tries to England’s one, Russell failed with all three of his kicks.
And with England’s citizens Smith – Marcus and Fin – nailing four out of four between them, it meant England held out for a precious, if unlikely, victory.
Steve Borthwick’s side had been at sixes and sevens for almost all of the first half as Scotland, unbeaten at Twickenham since 2017, were rampant.
After Tommy Freeman burrowed over from close range to briefly put England in front after Ben White had scored for the Scots, it was one-way traffic.
Van der Merwe was causing mayhem, with partners in crime Tom Jordan and Huw Jones winning the midfield battlehands down.
The South African-born Van der Merwe, who loves tearing England to pieces, was involved in both the tries as the home side were bulldozed into the turf.
That opener, with White applying the final touch, came after van der Merwe eluded Ollie Lawrence to set Jordan away down the left.
And while Marcus Smith’s conversion from the Freeman try – crashing over from Alex Mitchell’s pass – put England ahead after Finn Russell missed his conversion, it was a signal for Scotland to take control.
England resisted, defending on the edge but teetering on the brink, undone from a line-out move involving the entire Scotland back line and finished by Jones, barging through Freeman in the corner.
But a second missed conversion by Russell meant the gap was just three points and when Marcus Smith was handed a simple chance in front of the posts on 55 minutes it was, somehow, all square.
It was the key momentum shift and England rode the wave as Scotland ran out of gas.
Another penalty, 35 yards out, gave Smith the chance to kick England in front for the first time in more than an hour.
Then, when Scotland were penalised on half-way, Fin Smith had the distance to extend the lead and rouse the Allianz Stadium crowd.
They were silenced in the last minute, van der Merwe scoring his traditional try against England but Russell missed again.
And when, four minutes into the red zone, England found a way to muscle the ball out of play, they had stolen a victory they scarcely, indeed did not, deserve.
