It was almost the day of the underdog. Just like the fox that ran around the pitch during the national anthems before the game, Scotland made their mark and got the attention of the crowd, but could not quite find the touch that would have taken them to greatness, and they left the stadium with their collective tail between their legs.
It was brave, ever so brave, but ultimately rugby is a game for bullies and Scotland were far too much under the cosh in the tight to make the most of their courage in every other department. You can overcome a few failings, but the scrum was always going England’s way, the lineout misfired, and without a guaranteed source of possession, it was always a case of fighting a rearguard action.
Despite all those failings, you have to give full marks to every one of the boys in blue for their determination. That can go a long, long way towards overcoming the structural failings of a team that knows how to battle but cannot afford to be penalised at so many scrums, gave away lineout ball so regularly, and gave their backs so little set-piece possession to work with.
It all leaves a funny feeling. There was so much doom and gloom around the Scotland side after their misfiring RBS Six Nations Championship campaign so far that most pundits had been predicting a hammering. The bookies were giving England a 16-point start and there were more than a few, and not all from south of Hadrian’s Wall, who thought that even at those odds, there was a killing to be made, so efficient had England been at scoring while the Scots had been so poor at the same skill.
So the fact that bar a controversial sin-binning — John Barclay pinged for killing the ball when England were in a good attacking position — Scotland might have pinched this game, gives cause for pride and optimism that has to be balanced against the fact that they were still defeated and have now lost all four matches in this season’s championship.
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Take Barclay’s rest out of the equation, and it might have been a totally different game. England were struggling to find a way through the Scotland defence at that stage, but edged ahead with the penalty for the original offence and scored their only try with the last move before he came back on, and those ten points made all the difference in a game won by six.
The positives for Scotland were their defence in every part of the game, including that period when they were shorthanded, racing up to close the space around the England attackers but also sliding cleverly when they were outnumbered. There was a superb solo try for Max Evans, at last justifying the freedom Andy Robinson, the head coach, has given him, there was a positive start — they were leading after ten minutes — and the never-say-die spirit.
The negatives were the set-piece and the continued inability to do anything about the rolling maul, a weakness that is related to the scrummaging issues that continue to bedevil this team.
Scotland did what they did best, harried, fought and rediscovered their pride, but they still have to find the winning touch that produced the victories last year.