England's unbeaten run ends as Scotland stun rivals at Murrayfield

Hopes of marching on towards a famous Six Nations Grand Slam were not to be, as they were soundly beaten 31-20 in a battle where Henry Arundellâ™s 20-minute red card did them little favours.

The Scots flew out of the blocks, and their impressive start had them 17 points clear. A Finn Russell penalty got the scoreboard ticking before they conjured two tries in a quick-fire spell after Arundell was yellow-carded for illegally trying to slow up breakdown ball.

Russell was the instigator, his one-handed tip-on inviting Huw Jones to dance around Maro Itoje and score. Then, after he went wide to invite Kyle Steyn to the party down one wing, play went to the other wing and Jamie Ritchie went over after a lovely long pass from Sione Tuipulotu.

Arundell now returned with a point to prove and the rapport he built last weekend with George Ford was soon evident as the out-half provided him with the try-creating pass.

Ford added the conversion and then tacked on a penalty to cut the deficit to seven points, but the English response then came unstuck. Ellis Genge inexplicably messed up trying to gather a loose ball, only pushing it closer to the try line, and Ben White pounced to score the try converted by Russell.

The opening half then finished in further English misery as Arundell, having made some amends for his initial yellow card by returning to score, now received his second yellow from referee Nika Amashukeli. There was no debate about this sanction as he wiped out Steyn in the air and it left his team dealing with a 20-minute red card.

Both teams made interval changes, Scotland bringing Matt Fagerson on for Ritchie and England swapping Sam Underhill for Tom Curry, and it was the visitors who returned for the second half looking the more energetic, quickly ramping up their effort and eating into the 24-13 deficit.

Their scrum was applying pressure, resulting in a yellow card warning, and after Tuipulotu was penalised at a breakdown, Ford trimmed the margin by three.

Things were now heating up at the scrum where the Scots subbed off their front row, but just when it seemed the visitors were about to cut the gap by three more points with Ford lined up for a drop goal in front of the posts on 53 minutes, he was dramatically charged down by Fagerson.

The resulting scramble saw the ball bounce up sweetly to the replacement and he was away, making it to halfway before passing to Jones, who sprinted all the way to the line for the converted try that made it 31-13 after an incredible 10-point swing.

In the end, the visitors were left waiting until the 77th minute to make a dent on the scoreline, Ben Earl getting in for a converted try, but there was no denying Scotland their victory.

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