SCO vs ENG: What the pundits said

The Scots were jubilant when the final whistle sounded at Murrayfield, heralding their significant achievement of keeping the Calcutta Cup for the second consecutive year after their historic victory at Twickenham in 2021. 

Speaking on the BBC, a pundit panel of Chris Paterson, Brian Moore (whose final commentary stint it was after twenty years), John Barclay, Sam Warburton and Martin Johnson shared their thoughts. 

Paterson: 

“What a victory for Scotland on home turf, it’s a victory for defence, it’s a victory for guts and determination to stay in a game you had no right to. 

“Not only that but it’s a victory for getting the big moments right.” 

Moore: 

“For a game that we thought beforehand could have been rain affected, it could have been a dour game, it turned out to be exciting and had a thrilling finish. 

“I’ve just got two words to leave you with – Thank you.” 

Barclay: 

“It could have gone either way, you’ve got to be honest, we talked pre-show about evolution in Scotland’s game and talking about how they won games. 

“That game was won on defence, we saw some moments of magic from Finn Russell and there was some superb play, but it was a really gutsy performance by Scotland.” 

Warburton: 

“Without putting too much pressure on Scotland, I thought they had to win today. 

“They’ve proved to themselves that Scotland have a heck of a team, they’ve been building it ever since 2018 and I thought Scotland did what they had to do.” 

Johnson: 

“I think England had a lot of improvement in them, I think they dominated large parts of that game and that actually will be thinking, we can be a good percentage better next time we play. 

“When they get over the disappointment, they’ll say hey guys, we could have won that game, and we can get a lot better from here on in. 

“When they got to 17-10, Scotland were always going to take their chances, it’s just unfortunate for Cowan-Dickie really to be there, that’s not where you want to be with the ball in the air, he gets sin-binned, and it makes it very difficult for England there on in.”