None of the Scotland squad were alive last time their country triumphed against England at Twickenham but coach Gregor Townsend, who was nine at the time of that 1983 win, said they travelled south full of belief that this could be their year.
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That confidence was fully vindicated on Saturday by an 11-6 win where the scoreline did not remotely reflect the Scots’ dominance against the defending Six Nations champions, who barely fired a shot in an empty, rainswept stadium.
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“I came down a number of times as player and coach and got nothing so this is up there as one of our best-ever results, said Townsend, the former British & Irish Lions fly-half. “We had a good feeling in the camp and we were outstanding in really tricky conditions today. To win against a very good side with that record is a fantastic achievement. It wasn’t just one way of playing — there was a lot of variety in the way we played so there were leaders right through that team today.”
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One of them was fullback Stuart Hogg, through his captaincy and his play, which was of the highest order in every aspect. Hogg said the team remained calm from start to finish and his leadership played a big role in that.
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“We believed we could win and we kept that to ourselves,” he said. “I thought we were in control the whole game. I'm a proud Scotsman and we truly believed we could win and to have done it is an unbelievable thing."
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“Fly-half Finn Russell brought a calmness about the way we played and the way we spoke to each other we were positive in the way we were going. Even with Finn in the sin-bin we were calm and we executed in the second half and were chuffed to bits with it.”
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The only try came in the first half via winger Duhan van der Merwe and though England closed to 8-6 down at the break they were unable to build on that as Russell slotted another penalty, with England never threatening the try that could have snatched what would have been the most unjust of victories.
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The hosts’ talented midfield duo of Ollie Lawrence and Henry Slade were anonymous in total contrast to Scotland’s 21-year-old Cameron Redpath, who had a debut surely beyond his wildest dreams and something of an embarrassment for the RFU after seeing him play through their age groups before committing his senior career to the dark blue.
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“It was an incredible debut,” said Townsend, the former international half-back partner of the young centre’s father Bryan. “We know his skills but you don’t expect someone to have such an accomplished debut against such a strong team. He showed his competitiveness and he showed his skills. He was excellent.”
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"We just couldn't find a way to get into the game," said England coach Eddie Jones. "On a day like this the set piece will always be important, the contest in the air will be important, the gainlines will be important, and we couldn't win any of those areas. The backs in that situation become almost secondary. We just seemed to be off the pace."
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