by Scott Ingleton
On a crisp March 5th 1983, a Scotland side brooding after a close defeat at the hands of the Welsh, took apart a floundering England side at Twickenham. Back then it was part of the Five Nations competition, England finishing in last and Scotland finishing 4th, but satisfied with the knowledge they had claimed the Calcutta Cup in the birthplace of rugby; the Auld Enemy’s home turf.
Little did those men know it would take another 38 years for their fellow countrymen to achieve the same feat. Yet on February 6th, in an empty Twickenham, during yet another national lockdown , their fellow countrymen pulled off that same feat.
It has been less than a year and half since most of those England players were in the final of the Japan World Cup, facing off against the immense Springboks. Today, they were put to bed by a confident, composed and creative Scotland side. The scoreline does not adequately reflect the quality of Scotland’s tactics, and the fluidity with which they comfortably held back a broken English attack.
I could argue that Scotland won due to the onslaught of English penalties, 14 of which fell in the first half. I could argue the English lost due to their poor handling and passing, most aptly shown through an overthrown pass by Youngs in the 8th minute, or by May’s knock on in the 76th. I could argue the result came from poor English set pieces, caused by their leading players (Itoje, Farrell, George, Daly) having no recent game time due to Saracens’ recent relegation. I could even argue this is all part of “Jones’ 4 year plan” to win the 2023 World Cup, testing a variety of tactics against established sides, playing the long game. But none of these reasons come close to showing how exceptionally well the Scottish executed their game plan.
Before Ford came on in the 68th minute, almost every time England had possession they were forced into a position where box kicking was necessary. Normally this is not an issue; scrum halves are used to box kicking, and Youngs (in particular) is fond of it. However, the approach of both scrum halves to the issue is key in understanding the difference between the sides.
In the first minute, Maro Itoje charged down a box kick by Ali Price. The ball went hurdling towards the try line, Itoje managed to retrieve it but was penalised for not presenting the ball. In the 6th minute, exactly the same thing happened, only the ball went into touch. This – as noted by the commentators – caused Price to adapt his approach to the breakdown and seemed to “fold” to the pressure, making hasty and perhaps not wise decisions rather than box kicking.
I cannot pinpoint a particular time Youngs box kicked, because almost every time England had possession, their possession ended with Youngs box kicking it (or just hurling the ball into touch, a la the world cup final).
The vital difference here is Price adapted and his team adapted around him. Youngs refused to alter the tactics that one would assume were agreed upon by Jones. Rather than box kicking constantly, Price assessed the situation regardless of field position and made – what he believed – to be the right move. Youngs, on the other hand, box kicked when before the 22, box kicked when before the halfway line, and passed when over it. He passed only a few times, as he was over the halfway line only a few times. This is shown by Youngs, having been substituted in the 56th minute, having kicked a total of 219 metres, whereas Price, substituted in the 69th, kicked 179. Of course, the attacking side is less likely to be box kicking anyway – so how did Scotland maintain their aggressive forward momentum?
The ruthless innovation shown by the likes of the excellent Stuart Hogg, wunderkind debutant Cameron Redpath, tryscorer Duhan van der Merwe and pure game management by Finn Russell and Ali Price was truly wonderful to behold. They were constantly prodding and poking at the English defence, known for remaining firm in the face of onslaught, managing to break through on multiple occasions. For his try, van der Merwe ploughed through 2 tackles and refused to be brought down by THREE England players to power over the tryline. The back three of Hamish Watson, Jamie Ritchie and Matt Fagerson were superb at the breakdown, winning multiple penalties and turnovers between them, nor did they miss a single tackle. To say Scotland were brilliant would be an understatement; they dominated the scrum, dominated the set piece, and had England in their back pocket almost from the start. An exceptional start to their Six Nations, and I hope they will carry that momentum through all their coming games.
England, on the other hand, have plenty to work on. Their normal dominance at the lineout was gone, they were panicky ball in hand, aimless ly moving forward and absent at scrumtime. While at times referee Andrew Price was a bit harsh, he was never unfair nor inaccurate; it is right to say he had a very good match. This defeat, the first defeat to Scotland on English ground in 38 years, should rest heavy on the shoulder of the 23 men who wore the rose. Though thoroughly outplayed, they made far too many errors to accept they were simply outplayed. 35% possession, 27 missed tackles and no clean breaks, all of these are aspects we aren’t used to seeing attributed to England. Perhaps this is all part of Jones’ plan – the worst England performances under Jones were in the 2015/16 season, as part of the build up to England becoming runners up in the World Cup. But that does not excuse incidents such as May dropping a ball under no pressure, Youngs throwing a pass to the non-existent crowd, Robson attempting a kick in traffic, Farrell kicking a grubber straight into the hands of Hogg, and a relentless onslaught of kicking away possession. If it is Jones’ plan, I hope it either works exceptionally well, or he changes it very, very soon.