[Source: sixnationsrugby.com]

The fans had barely sat down in their seats following the anthems when Scotland launched an ambitious attack from inside their 22, wing Duhan van der Merwe drawing in the defence before slipping the ball to Blair Kinghorn on halfway.

The fullback passed to inside centre Tom Jordan down the left wing, who shipped the ball back inside to ever-reliable scrum-half Ben White, who raced in not only for his third try in four matches, but his third Calcutta Cup try.

If Scotland were adopting a shock-and-awe approach to proceedings, then shocked England may have been – but they weren’t awed.

England were instantly knocking down the door of Scotland’s defence on the visitors’ try line-line. After their forwards had sapped the Scots’ energy with repeat charges, it was a wing, Tommy Freeman, who profited as he bashed his way through for a try.

Fullback Marcus Smith converted for a 7-5 lead with fewer than ten minutes played at the Allianz Stadium.

Approaching the end of the first quarter, Scotland played a lineout from just inside the England half and spread the ball wide quickly, the threat of midfielders Jordan and Huw Jones causing their English opposite numbers to stick with them – thus allowing the visitors to make serious inroads down the left through the destructive Van der Merwe.

Once again, the ball came back inside and this time it was Jones who gleefully took possession, scoring a Scottish record-equalling 16 tries in the Championship.

Worryingly, fly-half Finn Russell failed to convert with his second attempt from the tee, allowing Scotland very little room to breathe on the scoreboard for all their endeavour: 7-10.

Scotland were causing all manner of problems for England with their offloading game, something the hosts would have been preparing for what with Gregor Townsend’s team having made more offloads than any other side in the first two rounds.

Preparing and actually stopping are two different things though, and Scotland’s evasive passing game was at times exhilarating to watch.

England had moments of their own, of course. The clock was already in the red in the first half when centre Ollie Lawrence made a powerful burst down the middle of the field.

Play went all the way to the Scottish 5m line where Lawrence, back in possession, overshot an ambitious pass out the back that flew over the head of Freeman and into touch to end the half: 7-10.

Scotland continued the second half in the same confident vein as the first, while England introduced a raft of changes – spearheaded by hooker and former captain Jamie George – in the hope of wrenching the momentum away from them.

Where England could find a way in was through the gap in Scotland’s discipline. Marcus Smith punished their ninth penalty with three points to level the scores.

It seemed this was a game that would be decided on tight margins, after all.

An hour gone, and a big touch-finder from fly-half Fin Smith gave England an ideal platform from which to launch a meaningful attack.

Scotland were penalised across a number of phases as they attempted to repel England from their 5m line, and eventually captain Itoje told Marcus Smith to go for the three points from in front of the sticks: 13-10.

Fin Smith’s influence was only growing as he stepped up take a penalty from 54m out – only marginally inside the Scottish half.

With both his Scottish parents in the crowd, the 22-year-old nailed the kick to give his country a six-point lead with ten minutes left.

A critical moment came in the final minutes as Scotland were pickpocketed at an attacking lineout in the England 22 by Itoje.

The fans of a red rose persuasion in London were beginning to believe.

Then Scotland deigned to blow all that England hope to smithereens – if only momentarily – when Duhan van der Merwe finished a sweeping length-of-the-field move to score in the left-hand corner.

It left Russell with it all to do, however, having already missed the previous two conversions.

The Bath man missed, all but ending Scotland’s dreams of a fifth successive Calcutta Cup victory.

Scotland still had possession in the 83rd minute, only for England to hold them up in a maul and see out what had been a supremely tight encounter – thus allowing Itoje to become the first England player to lift the Calcutta Cup in Twickenham since Dylan Hartley in 2017.