Thirteen minutes to play at Twickenham, and Scotland trail by four. They have a penalty on England’s 22. It’s a straightforward kick to the corner if they want to take a crack at the lineout but their captain, Jamie Ritchie, doesn’t fancy it. He asks Finn Russell to take the shot at goal. If Russell makes it they’ll still be one point off England’s lead, but Ritchie believes there’s enough time left for them to win it yet, and Russell agrees with him. It’s a big call. This is a different England team to the one that started the match, they’ve made six replacements, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and Anthony Watson among them.
England have well over 700 Test caps on the field now, almost 50 a man. Some of them, like Youngs, have been playing international rugby since Ritchie was trying to fight his way into the school first XV back at Strathallan. They know enough between them to pin Scotland back in their own half, and make sure the final stretch of the game is played right down by the visitor’s try-line. Only Scotland aren’t planning to wait for England to slip and gift them the match; they’re thinking they can rip it from them as soon as they win possession.
