Star Metro - Oh! Calcutta! -- how did England lose to Scotland in Six Nations?

Yet it was Scotland who dominated the 144th edition of rugby union's oldest international fixture with a decisive 31-20 victory at Murrayfield on Saturday, scoring four tries in a bonus-point win.

Defeat left England still searching for a first major away success under coach Steve Borthwick and with only a handful of chances left for such a win before the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

Below AFP Sport looks at what went wrong for England in Edinburgh:

Adapting to adversity

England conceded two early tries after being reduced to 14 men following a yellow card for Henry Arundell and ended up playing half an hour without the wing when his second yellow became a 20-minute red.

Clearly being without a full 15 on the field is a handicap for all teams but the very best sides, which is what England aspire to be, still find a way to win regardless.

For example double-defending world champions South Africa beat reigning Six Nations kings France 32-17 in Paris in November despite the Springboks playing more than half the match down to 14 men after Lood de Jager's red card.

But Arundell's prolonged absence badly unsettled England, who struggled to re-adjust their defensive line when a man down.

That scrum-half Ben Spencer and fly-half Fin Smith, both specialists, were on a bench split 6-2 between forwards and backs also exposed England's lack of a utility back such as Marcus Smith capable of covering more than one position.

England now have just three more chances for a major away win before the next World Cup.

The first of those is against France in their Six Nations finale -- a match Borthwick had hoped would see England going for a Grand Slam.

They then travel to South Africa in the new Nations Championship and face Ireland in next year's Six Nations in Dublin -- where England haven't won since 2019.

Drop-goal drama

England's revival from 12-0 down early on against New Zealand in an eventual 33-19 win over the All Blacks at Twickenham in November was launched on the back of two drop-goals from fly-half George Ford.

But England were 11 points adrift with just 26 minutes left, when Matt Fagerson's charge down of Ford's somewhat telegraphed drop-goal attempt paved the way for Scotland centre Huw Jones' second try of the match.

"What were they doing?," lamented former England centre Will Greenwood in his Sunday Telegraph column, with the 2003 World Cup-winner adding: "I love Ford but that was a shocker of a call."

Scotland revival

It is almost a rite of passage for a successful England team to first suffer a chastening Calcutta Cup loss at Murrayfield.

In 1990, a side captained by Will Carling lost a Grand Slam decider before going on to dominate European rugby and 10 years later Clive Woodward's nascent England side blew another Grand Slam chance with a 19-13 defeat in the final match in Edinburgh.

The danger in examining such results is to downplay Scotland's contribution to the final result.

A Dark Blues side so lacklustre in an 18-16 tournament-opening loss to Italy in Rome were a team transformed on home soil, with Scotland powerful at the ruck and sharp behind the scrum as they marked coach Gregor Townsend's 100th match in charge with a fifth win in six encounters against England.

"I’ve been on this journey now for four or five years with this team and I take the last week as a low moment for myself, but I've also had some massive highs, and this is one of them," said Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu.

The challenge for a Scotland side who've never finished higher than third in the Six Nations era is to replicate that form elsewhere in the competition -- starting away to strugglers Wales next weekend.

A.Lavoie--SMC