Brendan Gallagher: Form counts for nothing in Calcutta Cup cauldron

It would be untrue to describe Murrayfield as a graveyard for English rugby, there has been plenty of success there over the years including the culmination of the 1980 Grand Slam, but when it goes wrong for England in Edinburgh it can go seriously pear-shaped. If Eddie Jones needs to illustrate his team talk on the potential pitfalls of his opening match here is the sorry story of six England disasters north of the border.
2000: Scotland 19 England 13
Not the biggest but probably the most calamitous ever England defeat north of the border. Scotland were trying to avoid a whitewash after a poor Six Nations, England were looking to close out a Grand Slam after missing out at the death in the final game against Wales at Wembley the previous year.
England had racked up 19 tries in the previous four games playing all court attacking rugby but bristling rugged defence from Scotland blunted that cutting edge along with icy rain in the second half when England were overly ambitious in shocking conditions. England lead 10-9 at halftime with a try from Lawrence Dallaglio, but Scotland dominated after the break with Duncan Hodge, enjoying his day of days, scoring a try to add to his four penalties. Afterwards England, not feeling like winners, made their excuses and left, forgetting they were required to walk up to the SRU committee box and collect the Six Nations trophy from HRH Princess Anne.
1990: Scotland 13 England 7
This defeat ranks below the 2000  ‘disaster’ because Scotland were an excellent side in 1990 and chasing their own Grand Slam but somehow it still came as a massive shock after Will Carling’s England had carried all before them playing an exhilarating brand of rugby.
By Carling’s own admission England were nearly as overconfident as their fans, some of who arrived wearing their 1990 Grand Slam T-shirts. Although England began with a good try from Jeremy Guscott they never hit top gear while Scotland, having been marched slowly onto the field by David Sole, rose to the occasion splendidly. England made a mess of a series of scrums on the Scotland line, refusing the obvious three points on offer and Scotland struck decisively in the second half with a try from Tony Stanger, although a TMO today might have checked whether he actually grounded the ball. No matter, Scotland were clear winners on the day. “We badly underestimated them, from me downwards, which was ridiculous, that’s a great team they had,” recalls Carling.
1986: Scotland 33 England 6
Possibly Scotland’s best ever performance against England.  The Scots, captained by Colin Deans, should probably have won the Grand Slam, it was the one that got away down in Cardiff the day Paul Thorburn landed his monster penalty from over 70 yards, but this was their definitive performance, an absolutely crushing victory over the old enemy who were a half decent team themselves that season.
A cagey first half saw Scotland lead 12-6 with four Gavin Hastings penalties to two from former Cambridge University colleague Rob Andrew, before Scotland cranked up through the gears and ran England off their feet after the break. Matt Duncan, John Rutherford and Scott Hastings crossed for tries as the Scots cut loose. Hastings’ try in particular was a cracker and with brother Gavin landing all the conversions England were routed. Scotland players would surely have featured prominently in the 1986 Lions tour of South Africa which was eventually cancelled.
1971: Scotland 26 England 6
1971 was the centenary of the first ever Scotland v England game which was the first Test match in rugby history and it was decided to commemorate the occasion with a one-off friendly at Murrayfield, exactly one week after Peter Brown had landed a last minute conversion to claim a famous 16-15 win for the Scots at Twickenham.
Scotland left London on a high, England were in the depths of despair and it showed the following week when the Scots ran riot, centre John Frame scoring the first of his two tries after just 13 seconds after England tried to attack straight from the kick off.
Frame added a second and there were further tries for Billy Steele, Chris Rea and Peter Brown in a seriously impressive Scotland performance. England didn’t threaten the Scottish line once.
1972: Scotland 23 England 9
Scotland’s crushing win condemned England to their first ever Championship whitewash and the Wooden Spoon.
This was Scotland’s fourth win on the bounce over England, the first time they had achieved that since 1896, and No.8 and skipper Peter Brown was the star turn scoring a try and kicking three conversions. Diminutive flanker Nairn McEwan – an early Neil Back type player – scored Scotland’s other try. Colin Telfer added a drop-goal and full-back Arthur Brown slotted a fourth penalty. A sorry England side arrived off the back of a 37-12 mauling in Paris yet they had some big name players on parade. A couple of months later they went down to South Africa and recorded an historic win over the Springboks at Ellis Park.
1984: Scotland 18 England 5
1983 hadn’t been a great season for Scotland but they did finish with a win over England at Twickenham and in the following season under Jim Telfer they were on a mission.
After beating Wales first up in Cardiff a Championship was clearly on the cards, not to mention a Grand Slam and on a miserable wet day at Murrayfield they went to work in ruthless style.
John Rutherford, more known for his running game, and the canny Roy Laidlaw tormented the England full-back Dusty Hare with a series of testing kicks that kept England on the back foot and eventually the points came for Scotland with tries by David Johnston and Euan Kennedy, with the ever reliable Peter Dods converting both and adding two penalties. England finished a distant second with just two penalties from Hare.