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Gathered beneath the posts as Finn Russell lined up a potentially match-winning conversion, the England players sketched out a plan. Cut apart quite brilliantly by Scotland in the lead-up to Duhan van der Merwe’s scorching score, a game that they had seized control of appeared to be slipping from their grasp. While a crop of chasers prepared to put pressure on the Scotland kicker, Jamie George, no longer captain but still a vital voice in the leadership group, took charge, setting a strategy for the rest of the squad.
In the end, Russell’s miss meant the instructions were not required, enabling England to get out of a spot of bother. But Ben Curry’s recollections of the throes show a lucidity that England perhaps lacked last year. “We thought [Russell] was going to get it,” the replacement flanker revealed. “So Jamie says, ‘we’re going to go short, we’re going to get the ball back and then we’re going to score’.
“Obviously he missed it, so then we changed it to a long kick-off: ‘we’re just going to pin them, no one touch the breakdown, don’t give them penalties – obviously we gave them a penalty, which was pretty stupid – but just back our defence’. And yeah, it worked.”
When Steve Borthwick elevated Maro Itoje to the captaincy for this campaign and beyond, the England head coach sought to underscore the continuing importance that George would have. A change in skipper felt like a necessary, understandable decision after the missteps of 2024 but George had been an admirable leader through some tough times, always fronting up, always setting a fine example.
Many of England’s late collapses last year had, of course, come with the hooker long since off the pitch. While having Itoje, an 80-minute man, to lead from start to finish has obvious benefits, George’s shifting to the bench has proved crucial in helping England get over the line in each of the last two weeks. It is notable that it was he, not Itoje, delivering the messages in those final moments, showing both the front-row veteran’s value and his successor’s maturity in handing over certain duties.
“It’s great having Jamie come on,” Curry explained. “Maro’s a great leader but you can’t just rely on one person. With me being relatively new to the environment, having Jamie come as another voice – probably a bit different to Maro, they definitely complement each other quite nicely – makes it so clear. We did get it wrong, which is annoying, but it’s so clear what your job is: tackle, get up, make another tackle, run and hit, don’t give away another penalty.”
A first Calcutta Cup victory since 2020 was George’s 99th England appearance; all being well, cap number 100 will arrive against Italy in a fortnight’s time. Borthwick is not necessarily a man for sentiment but, given the nature of the occasion, there may be a temptation to elevate him into the starting side.
But a nice balance has been found between England’s bench and starters, one they lacked last year. The replacements are now delivering real impact; Rory Darge, Scotland’s co-captain, compared them to South Africa’s “Bomb Squad” post-match. With both Tom Curry and Tom Willis lost prematurely to injury, Borthwick was still confident enough to bring on George and Elliot Daly early, recognising a need for calm heads and fresh energy that (just about) guided his side to a win.
“The bench had a huge impact throughout,” Borthwick said. “Jamie George and Elliot Daly came on early in that second half. Ted Hill came on for the last couple of minutes, and you saw the effort he put in and the amount of ground he covered in those last few minutes, which was important for us.
“We’re playing against good teams – look at the stretch of games we played over the last 12 months, the quality of opposition we played against. These have been some tough lessons for our team, but I think the team is growing and evolving, and I think today was a good challenge for them.
“The nature of Test match rugby is that there were games in the autumn that could’ve fallen our way and they didn’t. Now the last couple have come our way. What we need to make sure is that we improve so we don’t make it quite as tight and tense.”
