GREGOR Townsend last night hailed Scotland’s 25-13 defeat of England as the greatest day in his coaching career after his team reclaimed the Calcutta Cup for the first time in a decade.
It was his first time in charge, having won just once in 10 appearances in world rugby’s oldest international fixture and never in five previous occasions as part of the Scotland backroom team.
“From a coaching perspective, that’s the biggest win I’ve had,” he said. “We came very close to beating the No 1 team in the world in November and we’ve now taken on the No 2 team, a team that’s been very consistent, and we’ve won the game.
“We believed we had to play a certain way to win the game, and we executed that really well.”
It was also a first Auld Enemy victory in an 11- year international career for Scotland’s captain John Barclay who said that long wait had only added to the pleasure.
“It’s pretty satisfying,” said the flanker. “I’ve been trying for a number of years. It’s not just about this being the Calcutta Cup, it’s because they are a brilliant side with a fantastic record and this win puts us in a good position.”
Barclay had spoken ahead of the game about his memories of watching a Calcutta Cup match for the first time when Scotland avoided a whitewash and denied England a Grand Slam in 2000 and he was acutely aware of the impact this result had on supporters.
“To win and to have that trophy in the dressing room, and with Murrayfield being as epic as it was, is something I’ll always remember,” he said. “To hear the crowd and look up at the scoreboard and it was 81 minutes was great; as it was to see them throwing everything at us and it not quite working out for them. It was a great performance.
“From running out right at the start, the stadium was so loud. I think the England fans tried to sing Swing Low after the anthems and [it was drowned out], that really set the tone.”
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