Missed tackles by Sam Johnson were crucial in permitting the first and last of England’s scores, but the sensational finish which produced the try that took Scotland to the cusp of the unlikeliest win in Six Nations history and ensured they could not lose their grip on the Calcutta Cup more than compensated for any defensive rashness.
Since it is the antipodean teams that took the capacity to stage comebacks in Test rugby to new levels, with Australia recovering from 31-7 down to beat Argentina and, even more remarkably, New Zealand from 30-6 behind to beat South Africa during last year’s International Rugby Championship, Johnson was an appropriate figure to occupy a central role in proceedings.
He has, since qualifying to represent Scotland last year, maintained his pride in his Australian nationality, but the Glasgow Warriors centre has, for the most part, impressed on his introduction to the international arena and he brought no less passion to thee cause than his team-mates, daring to dabble in what has proved treacherous territory for sportsmen in the past in the way he described his feelings for the opposition.
“Any experience like this is awesome. I'll remember for the rest of my life,” he said.
“To play at Twickenham, the home of rugby you could say, in front of 82,000 screaming Poms… Growing up in Australia, it is the same as Scotland, you grow up hating the Poms.”
Contentious as that phraseology is open to being portrayed, it was contextualised by the qualification that: “I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was such a great contest and I think they are a good bunch of boys.”
And why would he not enjoy his first involvement in a rivalry he could never have expected to have become embroiled in, albeit the pleasure was diluted by his inability to prevent George Ford from scoring his injury time try, England’s only score of the second half, which allowed the replacement to level the scores with the conversion.
“I was pretty disappointed after the game that it ended out in a draw, it's a bit like kissing your sister, isn't it? That's the disappointing thing,” he observed, colourfully.
“The main thing is that we keep the Calcutta Cup, how many Scottish teams have done that?”
There looked no prospect of that as early as 66 seconds into the game when Jack Nowell stepped off his right foot and past the despairing attempted tackles of three defenders to score the first of England’s tries after Johnson’s bid to pressurise Owen Farrell had helped fracture the defensive line as England asserted their superiority and for all that it did not look as if many were doing so, Johnson reckoned it had been vital to stay professional.
“You just have to forget about it,” he said.
“It is a high pressure cauldron so you have to try to take the emotion out of it. People make mistake, it is how you respond, for me personally, just getting off the line, Manu Tuilagi is a great player so it is a case of getting in his face and I thought I did that quite well. Just try to think about the next part of the game.
“The first half was tough mentally and physically but we are paid professional rugby players and we have to do a job out there, it we don't we don't have a job any more.”
To the Scotland centre’s credit, Tuilagi was by no means the biggest source of difficulty for the visitors thereafter, while Johnson got the ultimate reward for sticking to his task when Finn Russell brilliantly deceived the English defence in delivering his former Glasgow Warriors midfield partner with the pass that put him through for a ridiculously unlikely score.
“It was a bit of a weird one, usually if I make a break I'm looking to offload after about five metres,” Johnson said.
This time he stepped and swerved his way to the line in finishing expertly to put Scotland ahead and within reach of the greatest win in Calcutta Cup history, but just as when Harry Kane equalised after Leigh Griffiths’ wonder-strikes, there was an inevitability about the way what happened next, leaving the teams sharing both disappointment and relief.
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