The history of the Calcutta Cup

The Calcutta Cup is awarded to the winner of the England v Scotland game in the Six Nations and the first game took place in 1879.

The first ever Calcutta game was the 10th of March 1879 and took place at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.

Overall there have been 121 Calcutta Cup deciders with England winning 68 of them and Scotland winning 39 with 14 games ending in a draw.

England’s largest winning margin in a Calcutta game was back in 2001 when they hammered Scotland 43-3 at Twickenham with Ian Balshaw (2), Will Greenwood (2), Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill among the try scorers.

Scotland’s most comprehensive w in over England took place in 1986 in a 33-6 win at Murrayfield with Scott Hastings and John Rutherford getting the tries for Scotland.

In 1988 the Calcutta Cup was damaged after England’s Dean Richards and Scotland’s John Jeffrey kicked the cup down Princes Street in Edinburgh. The trophy was damaged but eventually repaired and Jeffrey and Richards were punished with Jeffrey getting a six-month ban  with Richards only banned for one game.

Scotland have failed to secure the Calcutta Cup in their last six attempts with England winning five of those games with both sides sharing the cup in 2010 after a 15-15 draw at Murrayfield.

Scotland’s last Calcutta Cup success was in 2008 when they defeated England 15-9 thanks to the boot of Chris Paterson and Dan Parks.

England won the most recent Calcutta Cup decider with a 20-0 win over Scotland in last years Six Nations with Mike Brown and Luther Burrell the try scorers.

This weekend England entertain Scotland at Twickenham in the 122nd Calcutta Cup where England will look to make four wins in a row against the Scots. Scotland will look to end a seven year wait for the Cup and will be looking for their first win in England since 1983.

Ciaran Fallon