As the Scotland players stood motionless on the pitch shortly after full-time, dejected and defeated, some of them glanced up towards the main stand, whilst others couldn’t bear to look.
Maro Itoje, the England captain, had just hoisted the Calcutta Cup high above his head. For Scotland, it must have felt like seeing an old flame cuddled-up in the arms of a new lover.
The pain and sense of regret that would have been shared among Gregor Townsend’s side must have been overwhelming. The one that got away? Yeah, and then some.
Scotland lost this match as much as England won it. It was a massive missed opportunity, one which ends any chance of Townsend’s side challenging for silverware in this year’s championship.
Scotland scored twice inside the opening 20 minutes through Ben White and Huw Jones. Leading 10-7 at half-time, they should have been much further ahead on the balance of play.
The Scots played all the rugby. Duhan van der Merwe was destroying England once again out wide, tormenting Marcus Smith and making a mockery of the England full-back’s attempts to tackle him.
The sense of panic caused by Van der Merwe in that first half was palpable. Not for the first time, England didn’t know what to do with the marauding giant on Scotland’s left wing.
Jamie Ritchie put in a man-of-the-match display but ended up on the losing side
Huw Jones dives over for Scotland’s second try at the Allianz Stadium but it wasn’t enough
Finn Russell was in despair as his late conversion dropped wide in Scotland’s one-point loss
Back to his very best, Jamie Ritchie was a colossus in the back row. All the pre-match talk of England’s pack monstering Scotland up front? Not so.
The only thing England were monstering was the ball, kicking the leather off it in a first-half display which would have made the eyes bleed.
Steve Borthwick’s side were abysmal. At one point, the home crowd actually started booing at their relentless box-kicking and refusal to actually throw the ball around and play some rugby.
But the second half was a different story. Not because England suddenly started turning on the style, but because Scotland completely lost their way.
Having been so influential in the first half, Van der Merwe was largely anonymous after the break until he scored right at the death to tee-up the chance of victory.
Finn Russell pulled the conversion wide of the posts to put the tin lid on what was undoubtedly one of his poorest days against England.
Scotland needed Russell at his very best here if they were to claim an historic fifth straight win over England.
But, truthfully, he was nowhere near it. Russell missed three conversions, leaving six points out there.
He also missed a couple of tackles, one of which very nearly led to an England try right on the cusp of half-time. His kicking from hand was also suspect, missing touch with one penalty in the second half. So often the star of the show in this fixture, Russell was ragged and out of sorts.
But that wasn’t why Scotland lost the game. They lost because, collectively, there was a failure to apply more scoreboard pressure on England during a dominant first half.
To get in at half-time only three points behind, England probably couldn’t believe their luck. They had no gameplan other than to kick the ball and hope for the best. It was awful stuff from Borthwick’s side.
That’s why this should sting so much for Scotland. At times in the past, they have come here to Twickenham and been blown away by England teams who were just too good on the day.
That wasn’t the case here. Not at all, actually. Scotland outscored England by three tries to one yet still somehow lost the game.
Maro Itoje lifts the Calcutta Cup for England after a nerve-shredding victory
Duhan van der Merwe touched down in the corner to give Scots hope but the conversion slid by
Even the one try that England did score, coming in the first half through Tommy Freeman, looked dubious.
There was nothing conclusive on the TV replays to suggest the ball had been legally grounded. It looked held up. But a try was awarded nonetheless.
This was one of the poorest and most limited teams Townsend has faced throughout his tenure, yet Scotland still couldn’t get the job done.
A blown opportunity of epic proportions to not only make history by winning five on the bounce against the Auld Enemy, but to reignite Scotland’s Six Nations campaign this year.
Scotland didn’t get anywhere near enough from the bench. Ewan Ashman was poor when he came on at hooker and the lineout faltered at key moments.
England’s defence, meanwhile, stayed strong. Ultimately, that’s what laid the foundation for this tense and scrappy victory.
They stumbled over the line. Whilst, for Scotland, their title aspirations have gone up in smoke for another year.
This one will hurt as much as any defeat of the Townsend era.
Scotland blew their big chance of making history.
