Smith plays key role in England victory

Marcus Smith’s unerring boot gave England eight precious points as they somehow squeaked home 16-15 for the ugliest of wins to regain the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham.

After losing four in a row to the Scots, the result was everything, but the performance was far from convincing as they were outgunned 3-1 in the try stakes and only got home because Finn Russell failed to land a touchline conversion at the death that would have given the visitors a third triumph in a row at HQ.

Smith – now playing at full-back for coach Steve Borthwick – converted England’s only try of the game from Tommy Freeman and his two second half penalties, though both relatively straightforward, were pressure-laden because of the low-scoring nature of the game.

They put England narrowly ahead against the run of play. Comfortable kicks they may have been but given that Smith suffered the yips in the previous Six Nations tie at home to France, it still showed composure and confidence to get the job done and it laid a crucial foundation for this nervy win.

Namesake Fin Smith took over kicking duties against France but only took over from Marcus with a penalty because of the distance involved in the one that took England six points ahead.

It was from near the halfway line which is just out of range for the Quins man. It proved just enough of an advantage as they survived the late surge that brought a try near the end from the brilliant Duhan Van Der Merwe – the man who scored a hat-trick in this fixture last year at Murrayfield.

Marcus Smith, earning his 42nd cap, had two Quins team-mates for company for much of the second half, with Chandler Cunningham-South coming on for an injured Tom Curry after 47 minutes to earn his 13th cap and Fin Baxter replacing Ellis Genge to take up his post in the front row in the 58th minute to claim his ninth cap.

Both were to the fore in a gruelling arm-wrestle of a second half in which England struggled to make territorial gains and the Scots always looked more threatening with the ball in hand.

The Red Roses kicked from hand time and time again rather than trust in a running game and in the end were lucky that Russell’s late miss allowed their safety-first strategy to prevail.

“We are just grateful. I think all the boys are so happy and relieved to get the cup back in our hands,” Cunningham-South said, perhaps mindful of the fact Gregor Townsend’s Scotland team had been so close to claiming a win that looked to be heading the visitors’ way for most of a tense afternoon.