England's Grand Slam hopes went up in smoke at BT Murrayfield where Scotland claimed their first Calcutta Cup in ten years with a stunning 25-13 victory.
Scotland had not scored a try against England at Murrayfield in 14 years, but in the first half centre Huw Jones crossed twice andwing Sean Maitland once as the home side established a 22-6 lead. England hit back through Owen Farrell's 44th minute try but that proved their last score as they were kept out by a combination of indiscipline and Scottish dominance of the breakdown.
It was only England's second defeat under head coach Eddie Jones in 26 Tests and their heaviest ever Calcutta Cup loss in the NatWest Six Nations Championship. With Ireland beating Wales 37-27, England's bid to become the first team to win three titles in a row is hanging by a thread.
Afterwards Jones conceded that England had been beaten by the better side. "Congratulations to Scotland," Jones told ITV. "They were too good for us. Unfortunately we were not in the game in the first 40. Scotland played well. Full marks to Scotland.
"We knew what we were going to get but we didn't meet the challenge today for some reason. Second half I was very proud of the effort of the boys. We really stuck in there and won the second half."
There were allegations that Farrell, who scored all of England's points, was involved in a scuffle before the game in the tunnel with footage appearing to show the England centre shoving Scotland No 8 Ryan Wilson. That lack of discipline continued into the game as for the second game running England found themselves on the wrong side of the referee with Scotland winning the penalty count 13-7. That included a yellow card to replacement Sam Underhill for a no-arms tackle in the 66th minute that ultimately ended their hopes of mounting an improbable comeback.
Asked about the Farrell scuffle, Jones said: "I don't know. I don't think (we lost our heads). These things happen. (The penalty count) wasn't flash today. We need to sit down and have a look at why we gave away so many penalties and work out the reasons
"It is never nice to get beaten, particularly up here but they deserved their victory and I am sure they will have a great night. We have got two games to go and we will just take our next game. We have got a lot to learn from this game and we want to put our best foot forward."
Yet to focus on England's failings would be to do a disservice to a magnificent Scotland performance. Flankers Hamish Watson and John Barclay terrorised England at the breakdown, Jones cut England to pieces and fly half Finn Russell turned around his poor form in the first two games to deliver a man-of-the-match performance.
"It's amazing, just listen to the crowd," Russell told BBC 5 Live Radio. "But it's unreal for us, it's been 10 years since we won it, so it's great to be a part of it.
"It's been a tough few weeks for me, but I'll keep smiling. We might not have had the best few games, but we kept going and to come out with the win is brilliant. We had a game plan today and we stuck to it really well. The last couple of games have been tough, but if we play like that every week we'll do okay."
The victory keeps alive Scotland's own hopes of winning a first ever Six Nations title since the tournament expanded as they travel to Dublin in two weeks to take on the undefeated Irish.
