England led Scotland 17-10 with less than 20 minutes to go on Saturday but Eddie Jones’s side proceeded to unravel and succumbed to an opening defeat on the first Six Nations weekend for the third year in a row. Here are five key incidents from the dramatic finale at Murrayfield.
Ford replaces Smith, 63min
Try as he might, Marcus Smith found prising open Scotland’s defence a difficult proposition in the first half. All that possession, all that territory but Steve Tandy has built a robust defensive unit at Scotland and England, perhaps lacking a bit in cohesion – not to mention a heavyweight ball‑carrier of Manu Tuilagi’s ilk – were clunky in attack. Smith then took matters into his own hands, pinned back his ears and scored a fine try to seize the lead for England on 52 minutes. He added another penalty 10 minutes later – taking his points tally to 17 – but was then replaced with Eddie Jones turning to the experience of George Ford to see the game out. The head coach bristled at questions over the decision afterwards – “it’s a 23-man squad” – but it is hard not to perceive it as a mistake given how England unravelled thereafter. “I think when he went off it must have been premeditated because he was going really well,” his Harlequins coach, Tabai Matson, said on Sunday. “His opportunity to close out the game would have been great for him but it must have been premeditated.”
Scotland penalty try and Cowan-Dickie sent to sin-bin, 66min
As much as the question is what was Luke Cowan-Dickie thinking, perhaps it is more relevant to ask what was England’s hooker doing wide on the left and trying to compete for Finn Russell’s crossfield kick? That it was he challenging Darcy Graham for the ball shows how ragged England were after a break from the excellent Duhan van der Merwe and two pinpoint kicks from Russell, who had his dander up by that stage. Ben O’Keeffe, the referee, made the right call in that there is little doubt that Cowan-Dickie, having appeared to jump too early, slapped the ball out of play. England were seven points up at that stage, which calls into question their game management in allowing Cowan-Dickie to be so exposed. Jones said: “I think we put ourselves in a difficult position because we had a 17-10 lead, we had the run of the game and we let them get into our half and gave them easy possession … we ended up having a hooker on the winger on their kick, which resulted in the try and 17-all.”
Marler fluffs a lineout, 68min
At 17-17 and into the final 10 minutes it was always likely to be a mistake rather than a moment of magic that proved decisive. It is unclear whether Russell was mindful of the fact that England did not have a hooker on the pitch but his kick to give England a lineout deep in their own 22 was just what Scotland needed. Jones did not want to bring Jamie George on until there was a scrum because he preferred to keep three back‑rows on the field but that meant Joe Marler was required to take the lineout, which did not go five metres, handing Scotland a scrum from which they won the decisive penalty. “We do practise for those kind of situations,” said George, who was finally introduced for the scrum that followed Marler’s fluffed lineout. “Obviously the execution wasn’t quite right this time. It is very difficult for Joe coming into that situation, five metres from his own line. I don’t think he would have ever done that in an international game before.”
Ford kicks penalty to touch, 78min
England have pointed to how they created opportunities to win the match after going behind as a reason to be positive and on one hand it rings true. With three minutes to go Will Stuart won a penalty at the breakdown inside the Scotland half and towards the right touchline, with England trailing by three points. It was probably not in Ford’s range but it was for Elliot Daly, who began making his way over from the left when the penalty was awarded. It was a bold decision by Tom Curry, in his first match as captain, to go for the corner instead – had Daly landed the kick England would have pulled level and received the ball from the kick-off – and it did not look too clever when Ford found a pretty rank touch. Surely the left-footed Henry Slade, or Daly, would have been a better option. The error was compounded when Sam Skinner stole the ball at the lineout. George said: “I had nothing to do with it. We felt like we had the upper hand up front. Tom wanted us to go to the corner and at that point I’m all for it. But we couldn’t execute the lineout. We have got a great leadership group and great communicators. They have got full faith in the rest of the group and there’s a lot of experience in the rest of the group to help them. At the same time we are led by them and the direction they want to go.”
England fail to strike with final play of match, 85min
Ever the diplomats, England refused to point the finger at O’Keeffe for not awarding a scrum penalty at the last. “Dominance” was the word used – multiple times – however. The scrum was reset four times but George revealed he was unable to get his message across properly to O’Keeffe and Ben Youngs was ultimately told to “use it”. What happened thereafter will be just as frustrating for England because yet again there did not exactly appear to be ice running through their veins as they sought the decisive blow. Youngs carried the ball down the left side of the scrum before passing to Daly, who was isolated, and Scotland made the turnover. “I felt like we had dominance,” said George. “I felt like the Scotland scrum were probably just trying to contain rather than to make it an even contest, but they got away with it. I was trying to have a conversation with [O’Keeffe]. There’s a lot of pressure on him in that situation but I would have loved the opportunity to be able to speak to him.”
