Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Comment: “The Pass” becomes a Calcutta Cup legend

Sean Maitland scores Scotland's second try, launched by The Pass from Finn Russell to Huw Jones.
Sean Maitland scores Scotland's second try, launched by The Pass from Finn Russell to Huw Jones.

Scotland wins over England don’t happen that often, so they tend to get defined by specific things.

There’s The Walk, from 1990, of course, and the Storm, obviously, from 2000. The Sidestep, John Rutherford sending four Englishmen the wrong way in 1986. The Conversion, by Peter Brown to win at Twickenham in 1971. The Snipe, by Roy Laidlaw, the last time Scotland won at Twickenham in 1983. The Penalty, an Andy Irvine monster, to win in 1974. The Hit, by Jason White in 2008.

What about Saturday? It simply has to be The Pass.

It featured two of Scotland’s three premier weapons of the game, Finn Russell and Huw Jones (the third was John Barclay whenever an Englishman took the ball to ground). And even at the time, The Pass – which started the breakout for Scotland’s second try – felt like an absolutely seminal moment.

Scotland 25 England 13: Scots mix skill and grit to win shock Calcutta Cup victory

It was audacious, an indication that despite the criticism levelled at him after the first two games, Russell wasn’t compromising his philosophy. As he fired it high and wide, just a yard outside his own 22, you could audibly hear the 67,000 crowds’ hearts in their collective mouths.

But it was perfectly executed (and therefore clearly pre-planned), with Jones meeting the ball at full pace as it fell perfectly bisecting the space between Jonathan Joseph and Jonny May. Both defenders were immediately compromised – although May actually did superbly to get back not only to block out a potential pass to Tommy Seymour but also to eventually haul down Jones – and the Scots were in behind England.

It needed Stuart McInally to make a further bringe before Russell, now at the other end, threw a shorter, less risky floater to Sean Maitland for the score. Just 28 seconds from The Pass to the try to take Scotland 15-6 ahead.

Jones ready for the next challenge in Dublin after achieving Calcutta Cup dream

Scotland’s men become fifth best rugby team in the world following spectacular Murrayfield display

The score was obviously significant, but The Pass itself was more than that. It was a signal (there had been a few before) of pure intent – a message to opponents and to critics: this is the way we play, live with it.

It won’t always work this well. But we’ll never forget the day it did.