The Grudge - Part III: England sent homewards as Scots make Grand Slam history

• 'It was a frantic beginning' - Jerry Guscott and John Jeffrey square up in the early stages of the 1990 Calcutta Cup match

WADE Dooley (England lock): It was a frantic beginning. It was full-on mayhem.

Brian Moore (England hooker): After three or four minutes we had the first scrum. Now was the time to start making some statements.

Jeff Probyn (England prop): We wanted to send them a message. 'You think your scrum can survive, Scotland? Have a bit of this, then – bang!'

Kenny Milne (Scotland hooker): I got in under Mooro. Popped him right out of there. Penalty for us.

Jim Telfer (Scotland assistant coach): Fin Calder tapped the penalty and drove at England's heart. I never heard a roar like it. He smashed into Teague and Skinner and was held and then our forwards came in behind him and mauled England fifteen metres downfield.

John Jeffrey (Scotland flanker): Physically and mentally, it was a colossal moment.

Jim Telfer: We got a penalty out of it and Craig Chalmers kicked it over. The crowd went crazy. The prickles were up on the back of my neck.

Ian McGeechan (Scotland coach): England didn't touch the ball for the first fifteen minutes. You could see them looking stunned.

Will Carling (England centre and captain): They were putting pace on the game and we didn't expect that. That was a reflection of my captaincy. Our forwards underestimated what happens to a Scottish player when he puts on the jersey, especially when it's against England. People were going on about Cronin beforehand. 'He's crap'. Well, he was playing pretty f******* well from where I was standing.

Brian Moore: Probyn trod on Sole at a scrum and suddenly we were 6–0 down.

In the 15th minute, England put in a monstrous scrum. Guscott began to see an opportunity.

John Jeffrey: I f***** up

Scott Hastings (Scotland centre): No, it was my fault.

Jerry Guscott (England centre): I glided in. There was no way anybody was going to stop me.

Mick Skinner (England flanker): We were losing 6–4 but we were in control. It was just a matter of time before we broke them.

David Sole (Scotland captain and prop): Skinner: The Big I Am. I wasn't a fan.

Jeff Probyn (England prop): In international rugby if you're a prop and you're under pressure it's the most desperate feeling you can have. You're on your own. Nobody can help you. And just before half time David Sole was on his own.

David Sole: I didn't particularly like him (Probyn]. He was all yap, yap, yap.

Paul Burnell (Scotland prop): England had a penalty. They could have opted for the kick at goal. But they took the scrum instead. The psychology was huge. They wanted to humiliate us in front of our own people.

Jeff Probyn: When Sole tried it on, I knew what he was at.

Kenny Milne: Soley and Probyn didn't get on and it was all kicking off.

Jeff Probyn: After the first scrum goes down, Bishop says to Sole, 'I know you took it down, if you do it again, it's a penalty try.'

David Bishop (referee): I'm not sure I ever said that.

Jeff Probyn: It goes down again. Sole can't hold it up. Any prop would do what he done. You go down rather than back. You take a chance.

David Sole: I'm telling the ref I'm losing my footing and I'm hoping he'll buy it. It's a bit of a con job but you hope.

Damian Cronin (Scotland lock): Mooro seemed to be calling the shots, not Carling. They had a bit of a confab after three or four scrums went down and then Mooro decided to go for the tap penalty. I was going, 'We can defend this all day long, boys.'

Kenny Milne: Probably should have been a penalty try. I didn't understand why Soley was collapsing. I said to Soley, 'Just keep it up', and Soley did and the ball comes flying out the tunnel and Craig Chalmers hoofs it away. There was this immense roar from the crowd.

Will Carling: People talk about not going for goal being the turning point. The abuse I got for that. We should have had a penalty try but, okay, we never got it. That was a lesson for me because I asked the wrong guys. I asked Mooro, who loses all rational thought from about Thursday. And Richard Hill, a similar sort of guy. I should have asked Winters or Ackers. With Mooro, maybe it was an ego thing.

A Craig Chalmers penalty shortly before half-time made it 9–4 at the break.

John Jeffrey: There was a hostility there, definitely. It wasn't the normal atmosphere.

Brian Moore: You can pick out individual faces and hear what's being said.

Simon Hodgkinson (England full-back): My parents were up – and they hated it. They'd been watching rugby for 20-odd years and they said it was the most aggressive atmosphere they'd ever seen. It was vitriolic. They said they'd never go back again.

Gavin Hastings (Scotland full-back): I kicked off the second-half, gave it too much welly and the ball went out on the full.

Mike Teague (England No 8): The ball came through the scrum at a hundred miles an hour. I tried to pick it up and dropped the thing.

John Jeffrey: It was our scrum now. We called a set move: Fiji.

Gary Armstrong (Scotland scrum-half): I waited for Rob Andrew and Mike Teague to get to me and then let it go.

Gavin Hastings: I was looking for a gap to run into, but I had to kick it and hope that someone was around to chase it.

John Jeffrey: It was Stanger versus Underwood. Our fastest guy against their fastest guy.

Mick Skinner: I'm running behind, knowing that the bounce is crucial. It bounces straight or a bit to the left, then Stanger scores. It bounces a bit to the right and Underwood saves us. The Jocks got the right bounce.

• '... and Stanger has scored ...'

Tony Stanger (Scotland winger): I don't really remember it. I look at the video now and it's like somebody else scored that try. Twenty years on, I can't quite believe that it's me.

John Jeffrey: I'm not sure Tony got the ball down, you know.

Jim Telfer: I maintain it wasn't a try. Every time I've seen it I think, 'Look at that, the most famous try in the history of Scottish rugby and he didn't get it down.'

Tony Stanger: It was a definite try.

Brian Moore: Bishop gave it. End of story.

John Jeffrey: I gave away a penalty after about 15 minutes of the second half: 13–7 now.

Scott Hastings: Just after that, I made a comment and I deeply regret it.

Jerry Guscott: I didn't hear it.

Scott Hastings: Jerry was down getting treatment and I blurted it out: 'Get off the pitch, you black English b******'. As soon as I said it, it felt like Murrayfield suddenly went quiet. Jesus, I was embarrassed. I cringe even now. It wasn't meant to be racist. It was just something stupid I said in the heat of battle.

Jerry Guscott: These things happen in that kind of environment. People do strange things.

Will Carling: The crowd is raucous the whole game. Anytime I go near the touchline I get a mouthful of abuse. Some of it is nasty. You think, 'Right, we're going to win this game and you lot are gonna be sickened.'

Paul Ackford (England lock): Will and Mooro were the real targets. Mooro had a chip on his shoulder about the Scots. He thinks he's right about everything. He just crusades through life. You don't have an argument with Mooro. He doesn't entertain any other opinion.

Mike Teague: We were in injury time. We couldn't win the Slam now, all we could do was stop them winning it, which was a great prize in itself.

Will Carling: JJ nails me in the tackle. It's just desperation on our part, blind panic. Time's nearly up. We ain't never gonna get through this lot.

David Bishop: That's it, boys. It's all over.

Kenny Milne: Half our team ran. They wanted to get in before the crowd swallowed them up. But I said, 'No, I'm going to enjoy every minute of this.' I let the fans wash over me. Calling my name, slapping me on the back, telling me what a hero I was.

Brian Moore: When the final whistle went, I crouched down on the field. It was just despair, really. Absolute devastation.

Jeff Probyn: Our dressing room? Hard to describe how grim it was.

Paul Rendall: There was fellas crying, for sure.

Will Carling: I used it for years afterwards. 'Remember how we felt at Murrayfield.' Bloody horrible. I was 24-years-old and deep down I knew I would have other days. But I was thinking, 'This is the end of the world'. For me, it stopped right there, round about half-past four on Saturday 17 March 1990.

Chris Gray (Scotland lock): We were knackered. Totally spent. I sat down and didn't get up for ages. I looked over at Creamy and he was happy, but his emotions were in check, as ever. I thought to myself: 'I owe that man my career.' But you wouldn't tell him. Oh, Christ, no. But it's true.

Jim Telfer: If I was quiet in the dressing room it was probably just me letting the players get on with it. Because it was their victory, their day. I was proud of them, every last one of them. Oh aye. Proud.

The Grudge - Part I: Telfer driven to success by a fear of failure

The Grudge - Part II: A Walk on the Wild Side

• Copyright Tom English 2010. Extracted from The Grudge: Scotland vs. England, 1990 by Tom English, to be published on 4 March by Yellow Jersey at 12.99.

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