Six Nations 2024: Can Scotland keep creating magic against England?

Sean Maitland slides into Murrayfield's corner in 2018. Sam Johnson moves under the Twickenham posts a year later. Duhan van der Merwe's stunning score in London a year ago. The winger ends a flowing team move late in the same match.

Scotland's recent success in the Calcutta Cup was full of stunning moments. Moments of sheer skill, courage and athletic theatre.

Whether it's the added edge to the competition, or the incentive to extricate themselves from years of grief and disappointment, which have blighted the Scottish experience in the oldest rugby match in decades, playing for England has brought the best out of Scotland in the past six years. .

Gregor Townsend said this week that the match scene had improved significantly. He's right – it's all about his team coming to the party, often playing some great rugby.

So, as the team seeks a fourth successive tournament win against England for the first time since 1896, the question is: can Scotland continue to produce moments of magic?

Not surprisingly, the main factor in answering this question is Finn Russell's performance. The Scottish fly-half – tongue firmly planted in cheek – recently compared himself to Lionel Messi.

When it comes to recent Calcutta Cup encounters, the joking comparison may stand up to some scrutiny. The Scotland co-captain has been at the heart of most of the good in his side's recent victories.

It was his sensational pass over Jonathan Joseph's head that saw Hugh Jones sail through a gap in 2018, before he lobbed the final ball into Maitland's arms to finish off the move.

He inspired Twickenham's comeback in 2019 as Scotland came back from 31-0 down. His fingerprints were all over Van der Merwe's winning score last year.

Russell has been in fine form this season for Bath and his impact in the Six Nations has been evident. He is the leading points scorer and has set up two of Scotland's four tries.

Only Wales center Nick Tompkins has more offloads than Russell as well. But Scotland have changed a bit thanks to them kicking a lot more. In fact, more than any other team in the tournament.

Russell has taken 44 kicks in his first two games, 15 more than his midfield partner Ben White. Next in the rankings is England team-half Alex Mitchell, who has 24.

Kicking can obviously be a good attacking tool, but the sheer amount of it in the second half against France attracted criticism and arguably took away from Scotland's strengths.

Only Italy have made fewer line breaks, and Scotland also rank fourth in the Six Nations in terms of attacking entries into the opposition's 22. Is there a reason for Scotland to return to keeping the ball in hand and launching more counter-attacks?

How Townsend and Russell strike a balance between the shoe and the use of the hands would be great if they want to produce more magic.

Clearly, what Scotland does is only part of the equation. And there is no doubt that the Scots' recent good form against their rivals has coincided with a generally poor spell for England in the Six Nations.

However, there are signs under Steve Borthwick that things are improving. They were so close to pulling off a stunning heist against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final, and have won their first two games of the season against Italy and Wales.

And while there is talk of them wanting to make more progress in attack, it seems unlikely that England will shine at Murrayfield and throw the ball away.

A brilliant game plan based on pressing and kicking in wet conditions almost saw the Springboks out in France and England's template could be the only win they have achieved over Scotland in their past six meetings.

In 2020 they prevailed 13-6 in terrible weather at Murrayfield. They kicked 400 meters longer than Scotland, committing 14 handling errors and 21 turnovers.

The winning try came from a mistake by Stuart Hogg when the ball slipped from his grasp under the posts after a kick, leading to a five-metre rally and Ellis Genge.

Although conditions are not expected to be too bad and Russell, who missed the 2020 defeat, will play, England will certainly aim to turn up the pressure again.

It is then up to Scotland to see if they can win the battle in the air and overcome England's new blitzing defense under manager Felix Jones.

“In the last few games, we've talked a lot about how they've been getting hit by a lot of thunderbolts, tries from almost anywhere,” England team-half Danny Kerr told the Daily Rugby Union podcast this week. “We have to prevent them from happening.”

The Calcutta Cup could be about whether Scotland can pull off a lightning strike again.