The Calcutta Cup - from colonial scrap metal to rugby's edgiest rivalry
There are many great rivalries in the world of rugby union. As with most things in life, opinions vary from place to place when selecting the greatest of all rivalries.
Is it between the traditional foes New Zealand versus South Africa where there have been some epic encounters. Some would say the provincial clash between Queensland and New South Wales is as intense as it gets, or maybe the all Ireland clash between Leinster and Munster, which takes some beating for pure passion.
All the contests above are legendary in their own right but it must be said that the Calcutta Cup game is as big as they come. The annual contest between England and Scotland gets the blood stirring all the way from Land’s End to John O’Groats. There is a genuine edge between these two teams and encounters at Twickenham and Murrayfield have been brutal and not an inch is given in this historic clash.
.@Scotlandteam and @EnglandRugby have both named their squads ahead of Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash…
See who's in below 👇
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Why the name Calcutta Cup?
In the 1870’s the game of rugby was introduced to the Indian sub-continent by a group of men from England who formed the Calcutta Rugby Football Club.
After five years in 1878, the club was forced to close due to the departure of the British army regiment from the area, as well as a lack of new members in the club.
On closure, the club chose to use their remaining money (270 Rupee coins) and melt down these funds to create a silver trophy, which is now known as the Calcutta Cup.
The trophy was presented as a gift to the Rugby Football Union to use as they pleased. It was originally suggested to use the trophy for a knockout competition in English club rugby, however the RFU did not want to create a new competition or a knockout competition fearing that it may lead them down the path to professionalism.
Instead, the RFU looked to use the trophy for international purposes. During this period only England, Scotland and Ireland had international teams and Ireland were particularly weak during this time – during the 1870’s they didn’t score a single point in eight international matches.
It was therefore decided that the victors of the annual England v Scotland game would be awarded the Calcutta Cup and was first played for in 1879, the game ended in a 3-3 draw.
The original trophy is kept at the Museum of Rugby in Twickenham. After years of use and a certain amount of mishandling, it was decided that a replica would be used during presentations. One famous story refers to England No 8 Dean Richards and the hard-as-nails Scotland flanker John Jeffrey on Princes Street in Edinburgh using the trophy as a ball in a drunken kick about.
Three Classic Calcutta Cup Clashes
Scotland 13-7 England (Murrayfield), 17 March 1990
A classic test match in every sense of the word. In a winner takes all encounter, the Five Nations, Grand Slam, Triple Crown and Calcutta Cup were all up for grabs in this final game of the Championship.
Scotland were well and truly the underdogs against an England side that would make the World Cup final the following year.
Bill McLaren the great Scottish commentator described the scene as “A unique atmosphere at Murrayfield in a quite unique occasion”.
From the get go when Scotland captain David Sole led his team out onto the park with a now famous walk, there was a sense that something special from a Scotland point of view was about to take place.
The passion of the crowd got the home side firing and Craig Chalmers kicked two early penalties for a 6-0 lead. Jeremy Guscott scored a try to pull the score back to
6-4, in the days when a try was worth 4 points.
It was a windy day and the consistent Simon Hodgkinson was unwilling to trust his boot in extremely tough kicking conditions.
A kick through by Scotland full-back Gavin Hastings allowed a chasing Tony Stanger to burst over for the try and increased the lead to 13-4 early in the second half. A penalty by Hodgkinson brought the score back to 13-7 but Scotland were not to be denied their first Grand Slam since 1984.
England captain Will Carling stated, “That was the most amazing atmosphere I’ve ever played in. As an Englishman, it took me time to understand the passion and depth of emotion the Scots have when they play England. Part of our learning process was understanding, learning and respecting that, then making sure we felt exactly the same way about playing for England.”
England 40-9 Scotland (Twickenham), 22 March 2003
England’s World Cup winning side was a sight to behold when in full flow during the 2003 season. They had an extremely strong pack containing the likes of Johnson, Dallaglio and Hill. The back division were no slouches either with Dawson and Wilkinson directing play from the halfback positions.
After France won the Grand Slam in 2002 sweeping all before them, and England not winning a Grand Slam since 1995, Woodward’s charges demanded of themselves going in to a World Cup year.
A brace of tries by Jason Robinson, added to one apiece from Josh Lewsey and Ben Cohen proved to be decisive in a productive day for England’s back three.
England’s defence was resolute throughout this game and the only shining light points-wise for Scotland was three Chris Paterson penalties.
Jonny Wilkinson had a perfect day with the boot, kicking all his goals and adding 18 points to his side’s tally.
It was a physical game and man-of-the match Richard Hill worked tirelessly for the home side. After the game Woodward stated, “Well done to Scotland, they got stuck in and proved it was a true Six Nations Championship.”
Scotland coach Ian McGeechan didn’t feel the score line was a fair reflection “We made mistakes at crucial times and England are a good enough side with good enough strike players to really do damage, and Jonny Wilkinson doesn’t miss too many kicks. But I thought there were a lot of good things about our performance and England have had to work very hard for their win.”
England booked their Six Nations Grand Slam decider against Ireland, which they went on to win in emphatic style, 42-6 in Dublin.
Scotland 19-13 England (Murrayfield), 2 April 2000
This was the year where Italy was added to the Five Nations Championship to create the inaugural Six Nations.
Scotland had lost all four games in the tournament including a 34-20 defeat to newcomers Italy in Rome.
England came in to the final match of the tournament unbeaten. Apart from a close victory over France, they were dominant against the other three nations.
Scotland had not beaten England since the 1990 Grand Slam winning victory and conditions on the day were treacherous, this was not a day for champagne rugby. The collisions were raw and physical, similar to that of two heavyweight boxers slugging it out.
A 19-point haul by Scotland No 10 Duncan Hodge including a try, conversion and four penalties was underpinned by a great 15-man effort from the home side to deny Clive Woodward’s side a Grand Slam.
A converted Lawrence Dallaglio try and another two penalties by Jonny Wilkinson were not enough, England eventually going down 19-13.
The Scotland team came out for a lap of honour and they were mobbed by thousands of ecstatic supporters on the waterlogged pitch after this famous victory.
Ian McGeechan was thrilled with the outcome and performance of his charges and said, “We knew if we could just hang on we could do it. The guys were magnificent. They stood up and were counted.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments