Inspired Scotland have England's number again in Calcutta Cup

EDINBURGH, Feb 14 : Scotland produced an inspired performance to get the better of England again, with flyhalf Finn Russell leading his side to a 31-20 victory in a pulsating Six Nations clash at Murrayfield on Saturday that kept up their recent dominance of the Calcutta Cup.

Russell proved the talisman with an array of silky skills and accurate kicking, expunging the demons of a year ago when his missed conversions cost his side victory at Twickenham, and leading Scotland to their sixth win in their last nine clashes with the ‘auld enemy’.

Huw Jones scored two tries while Jamie Ritchie and Ben White got one each with Russell kicking a penalty and four conversions for Scotland.

England’s 12-match winning run was brought to an abrupt end as they managed just a try from Henry Arundell, who was twice yellow carded and handed a 20-minute red card, and a late score from Ben Earl.

Scotland were expected to show some reaction after a disappointing defeat in Italy last weekend but exceeded expectations as they burst into a 17-0 lead in the first quarter-hour with line breaks and speedy handling catching England cold.

Russell put over a fourth-minute penalty and then showed some audacious skill six minutes later as he slapped a fizzing pass from scrum-half White onto Jones on the left wing to allow the centre to go over for the first try.

Four minutes later, Scotland scored a second with Russell again key as he passed wide to Kyle Steyn on the right flank. The winger was stopped short, but the ball rapidly switched to the left, and skipper Sione Tuipulotu had time to swing out a long pass to unmarked flanker Ritchie, who trotted in for his try.

Russell converted both with the Scots making full use of their one-man advantage after