The good, the bad and the ugly of the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield

Published on Saturday 13 March 2010 00:20

THE Calcutta Cup is one of the most eagerly awaited fixtures of the sporting calendar, andit has produced its fair share of passion, drama and excellence over the years.

But it is fair to say that, like any regular event, there have been some forgettable howlers too. Here The Scotsman dips into the archives to select the good, the bad and the ugly of the past 25 years of Scotland v England encounters at Murrayfield.

THE GOOD

The 1986 match was certainly good for Scotland, but the hometeam's record 33-6 victory was particularly bad and downright ugly for the dismal England side. Itwasnot a poor England side on paper, with the team including in its ranks Simon Halliday, Rob Andrew, Nigel Melville, Paul Rendall, Wade Dooley and Peter Winterbottom. The visitors trailed

only 12-6 at half time after Gavin Hastings and Andrew traded penalties.

Scotland cut loose in the second half, with full-back Hastings sending Matt Duncan in for a try at the corner flag. The Scotland No15 converted from the touchline, and added another penalty. John Rutherford extended the lead when he jinked over the English line, his try converted by Hastings, and then Scott Hastings raced in for a third Scottish try in the last move of the match, leaving time only for brother Gavin to convert. The 27-point margin of victory would have been 30 points in the current era, with the score for a try increased from four to five points in 1992.

THE BAD

Scotland's shock win in 2000, when a team that had lost every game in the championship denied England the grand slam, stored up trouble for the following five years, when a wounded England side extracted heavy revenge, especially at Twickenham. There were hard times for the Scots atMurrayfieldtoo- in 2002,England an out 29-3 winners, the Scots'

points via a drop-goal from Duncan Hodge,whohad scored all of Scotland's 19 points in 2000. England scored four tries through Jason Robinson (2), Mike Tindall and Ben Cohen, with Jonny Wilkinson kicking two conversions and a penalty, and Charlie Hodgson a conversion.

THE UGLY

The 1988 meeting at Murrayfield is best forgotten, and few of the 60,000 crowd can probably recallmuch of England's 9-6 win. Scotland went into the last match of the Five Nations championship as favourites, having averaged 20 points per match in the three previous fixtures, but by the end of 80 minutes the home support was still waiting for the game to begin.The grim farewas illustrated by the scoreboard at half time, which remained unchanged fromkick-off. Gavin Hastings scored Scotland's points in the second half with two penalties, but England edgeditwith a Rob Andrew drop goal and two Jon Webb penalties. Scotland coach Derrick Grant commented: "If England is the birthplace of rugby, then they effectively killed the game stone dead today."

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