{"id":8204,"date":"2026-02-14T12:45:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T07:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/14\/englands-brave-new-era-runs-up-against-murrayfield-ghosts\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T12:45:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T07:15:02","slug":"englands-brave-new-era-runs-up-against-murrayfield-ghosts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/14\/englands-brave-new-era-runs-up-against-murrayfield-ghosts\/","title":{"rendered":"England&#8217;s brave new era runs up against Murrayfield ghosts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/topics\/c8ep7j8w1xkt\">Mike Henson<\/a>BBC Sport rugby union news reporter<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published27 minutes ago<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#comments\">13 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It was the pass that turned a defence inside out and twisted history upside down.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2018, Scotland hadn&#x27;t beaten England at home in a decade. It was 14 years since they had even scored a try at home against the neighbours.<\/p>\n<p>Their longer-term record against England was yet more wretched \u2013 Scotland had won just three of the previous 29 meetings.<\/p>\n<p>The oldest fixture in international rugby was showing its age. It had become tired.<\/p>\n<p>And then Finn Russell <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/scotlandteam\/status\/968067655306547200\">threw that pass., <!-- -->external<\/a> Thirty-one minutes into the 2018 Calcutta Cup tie, as Scotland nursed a slender four-point lead, Russell slung a glorious, soaring, swooping torpedo of a pass which froze Jonathan Joseph, foxed Jonny May and freed Huw Jones on a gleeful gallop through the heart of England&#x27;s defence.<\/p>\n<p>A few phases later Sean Maitland went over in the corner, belief burned bright and a new era had arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Scotland won 25-13 that day. Ever since it has been England&#x27;s turn on the rough end of the rivalry. They have tasted victory twice in the last eight meetings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scotland v England<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Men&#x27;s Six Nations<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, 14th February at 16:40 GMT<\/p>\n<p>Scottish Gas Murrayfield<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/sounds\">Listen on Sounds<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app<\/p>\n<p>What was once an annual gimme, is now a brutal benchmark which England have struggled to reach.<\/p>\n<p>So, as soon as the Six Nations schedule was published, Saturday&#x27;s trip to Murrayfield looked like the pinch point which would make or break England&#x27;s title dreams.<\/p>\n<p>This is an upwardly mobile England side who are too excited about the future to chew for long over the past.<\/p>\n<p>They bounce north on the back of 12 straight victories and a blossoming strength in depth.<\/p>\n<p>It was not long ago that England had a chronic lack of centres. Now, they can leave a fit-again Ollie Lawrence, once carved deep into every possible Steve Borthwick teamsheet, out of the matchday 23 without stirring much comment.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Heyes has emerged as such a high-calibre tight-head prop that an injury to Will Stuart, who made similar strides last season, has been shrugged off.<\/p>\n<p>Flanker Tom Curry, a big-match staple, is on the bench.<\/p>\n<p>Options abound. Momentum gathers apace. But, quietly, there are doubts that only a Murrayfield victory will ease.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c2e4knn1mezo\">\n<p>Captain Itoje returns to England XV to face Scotland<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published3 days ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cwyk9lepz7go\">\n<p>Pilates pain and spotting space &#8211; how Ford stays in the fly-half fight at 32<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published2 days ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cy4wgxjwvp5o\">\n<p>Auld enemy, new talent &#8211; Scotland &amp; England&#x27;s scrap for tomorrow&#x27;s stars<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published23 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Because England&#x27;s winning streak started with some streaky wins.<\/p>\n<p>Victory over France in round two of last year&#x27;s Six Nations was delivered, in part, by Gallic butterfingers.<\/p>\n<p>The one-point win over Scotland a fortnight later would have been defeat had Russell nailed a final-play conversion shot.<\/p>\n<p>After closing out that Six Nations campaign with wins over Italy and Wales, England, without 14 British and Irish Lions, impressed by beating Argentina twice on a two-Test tour. <\/p>\n<p>But the Pumas, run ragged by the 12-month demands on their star players, were also at less than full strength.<\/p>\n<p>Victory over New Zealand was the centrepiece of England&#x27;s autumn, but the subsequent sacking of Scott Robertson suggested that the All Blacks were not taking up tools with their usual gusto.<\/p>\n<p>England&#x27;s current run has been built around Twickenham. Can they go on the road and break the hex that Scotland have held over them in recent years?<\/p>\n<p>If not, back-to-back away trips to the Stade de France and Ellis Park to play France and South Africa in March and July respectively suddenly look a whole lot more daunting.<\/p>\n<p>There are some relative Test rookies in their line-up. Henry Arundell is much improved in defence, but was barely tested against Wales last week. Tommy Freeman is learning on the job at centre, a potential opening that Sione Tuipulotu and Jones will attempt to exploit. Guy Pepper, eight caps deep, will be a target for wily opposite number Jamie Ritchie.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere Luke Cowan-Dickie can wobble on the oche at line-out time, while England&#x27;s replacements did not accelerate away from Wales as Borthwick might have hoped, with the hosts shading the second half by a relatively narrow 19-7.<\/p>\n<p>They are minor quibbles. Certainly in comparison to Scotland&#x27;s.<\/p>\n<p>Gregor Townsend&#x27;s men were stung by a defeat by Italy that might signal the beginning of the end for both a coach and a generation of stellar players.<\/p>\n<p>But, those happier, more distant memories are also still resident in their line-up.<\/p>\n<p>Two names remain from the 23 who beat England eight years ago &#8211; Russell, who threw the pass, and Jones, who caught it.<\/p>\n<p>England must break that link to the past.<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/teams\/england\">England Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\">Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sounds\/series\/p0kwktkp\">\n<p>Listen: Sport&#x27;s Strangest Crimes &#8211; Bloodgate<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sounds\/brand\/p04q5p2n\">\n<p>Listen to the latest Rugby Union Weekly podcast<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>England&#x27;s brave new era runs up against Murrayfield ghostsImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Finn Russell is one of two survivors from the matchday 23 that beat England at Murrayfield in 20&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}