History suggests Saturday’s clash between England and Scotland should be an epic battle between two old foes.
There have been some classic Calcutta Cup encounters since the first, a 3-3 draw in 1879, and although the victory tally stands at 68-42 in England’s favour, with 18 draws, plenty of upsets have been recorded.
Here are five of the best matches to whet the appetite for the teams’ first clash on neutral territory:
1926: England’s proud record falls to uppity Scots
Scotland inflicted England’s first ever defeat by a home nation at Twickenham with a 17-9 win.
Other than the final score, the game was notable for the refusal by the Scots to wear numbers on their shirts, as requested by King George V, replying that “this is a rugby match and not a cattle sale”.
1974: Irvine’s last-gasp winner
A 45-yard penalty kick by Andy Irvine sealed a narrow win for the Scots at Murrayfield, prompting an indiscreet leap of joy by the Scottish touch judge.
Irvine had missed the chance after only 18 minutes to put Scotland 12 points clear and England came back to lead twice in the second half before the late conversion earned him his 12th point of the match in a 16-14 win.
Andy Irvine pictured playing for the British Lions
1980: Beaumont the hero
England ended a long barren spell with a Calcutta Cup win at Murrayfield that brought them the Grand Slam and their first Five Nations Championship since 1963.
Captain Bill Beaumont was chaired off the Murrayfield turf after the game but it was a hat-trick from John Carleton, the first by an England player since Herbert Jacob achieved the feat against France in 1924, that helped England to a 30-18 win in Edinburgh.
Bill Beaumont runs the ball in a Six Nations match
1990: Grand Slam decider
With both sides on three wins apiece, this was the Five Nations Grand Slam decider. Led by David Sole, the Scots famously walked slowly out on to the Murrayfield pitch before the game to send the crowd into a frenzy.
It obviously affected England skipper Will Carling as well, as he made some inexplicable decisions to go for tries when kickable penalties were on offer. A Tony Stanger try and some poor goal-kicking from Simon Hodgkinson enabled Scotland to claim a 13-7 win, and the Grand Slam to boot.
David Sole leads the Scots out to take on the Auld Enemy
2000: Dawson’s up the creek
When Lawrence Dallaglio easily ploughed over the line early on at Murrayfield, it looked as though the first Six Nations Championship would bring England a Grand Slam.
It didn’t. As the rain lashed down, England, minus Martin Johnson, floundered, and Duncan Hodge’s try helped the Scots, who adapted superbly to the conditions, to a 19-13 win.
After the game, shell-shocked England captain Matt Dawson forgot to go up the Murrayfield steps to collect the Six Nations trophy from the Princess Royal, leaving Scotland skipper Andy Nicol bloodied but unbowed, to raise the Calcutta Cup to the delight of the sodden home crowd.
The Calcutta cupwas presented to the RFU to be awarded for the winner of the annual England vs.Scotland international.
The trophy originated in India. The Calcutta football club which had been started by former students of rugby school 4 years earlier had been wound up and the remaining rupees in the club’s funds were melted down to be re-worked into the trophy.
In 1988 the cup was damaged by the antics of some drunken players, including England number eight Dean Richards and Scotland flanker John Jeffrey who played football with the Calcutta Cup along Princes Street in Edinburgh. Jeffrey received a six-month ban from the SRU whilst Richards was given a one-match sentence from England.
1999: Here’s Jonny
As Clive Woodward pressed on with his plans to turn England into the masters of total rugby, they were very nearly derailed by Scotland at Twickenham. Two early tries gave the home side the cushion to start trying some free-flowing moves, but things quickly went awry and two tries from Alan Tait and a Gregor Townsend score brought the Scots back into the game. In the end England were saved by a dead-eyed 18-year-old by the name of Jonny Wilkinson, making his Twickenham bow, who kicked England’s only penalty attempt (pictured), while the less-than accurate Kenny Logan, missed three shots at goal that cost Scotland nine points, and a famous win. Final score, England 24-21 Scotland.
2000: Dawson’s royal rick
When Lawrence Dallaglio easily ploughed over the line early on at Murrayfield, it looked as though the first Six Nations Championship would bring England a Grand Slam. It didn’t. As the rain lashed down, England, minus Martin Johnson, floundered and Duncan Hodge’s try helped the Scots, who adapted superbly to the conditions, to a 19-13 win.
After the game, shell-shocked England captain Matt Dawson (left) forgot to go up the Murrayfield steps to collect the Six Nations trophy from the Princess Royal, leaving Scotland skipper Andy Nicol (being lifted into the air), bloodied but unbowed, to raise the Calcutta Cup to the delight of the sodden home crowd.
Dawson sheepishly appeared at a photocall the next week to collect the championship trophy and received a barrage of abuse in his mailbag for the error. “I was pretty disgusted by some of the letters sent to me,” said Dawson in his autobiography. “I wrote a personal apology to the Princess Royal… to reassure her that there was no intention whatsoever… to snub either her or the ceremony”… “Five days later I received a reply saying no offence had been taken.”
After all the Calcutta Cup is not at stake this weekend(acording to The Independent), so the article is not completely right , sorry. Still very interesting.
England meet Scotland this weekend for the second time in a World Cup, but for the first time on neutral territory.
On the line is a place in the quarter-finals, meaning the match on Saturday promises to be as nerve shredding as it is exciting for all involved.
What is normally a battle for the Calcutta Cup, although the famous trophy will not be at stake this weekend, has produced games that have lived long in the memory.
Good morning SuperBul, the rivalry between the two countries is pretty strong so should be a good one to watch tomorrow. There will be a lot of passion and Scotland will be that extra bit more motivated to beat England, but I’m afraid it may all be for nothing as I’m not sure if Scotland can win it would be by enough to deny England going through, should have beaten Argentina because its a long shot to hope that Georgia does to help our cause. Its a pity how things are looking in the group, just lost the wrong game, had we beaten Argentina then quarter final would have been certain and this game could have been about who goes through top and gets easier quarter final. Haven’t looked at all the options in all the groups but from what I see there is the possibility that Scotland could be the only country to only lose 1 game this World Cup and miss out on knockout stages.
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