For Hodge the hero, Calcutta Cup won't ever lose its sheen

IF ONE doubts the allure of the Calcutta Cup, or that it still resonates deeply for Scottish players at a time when there appears to be trophies up for grabs in every international, one glance back over the past decade should put such thoughts to bed.

Duncan Hodge will never forget the year 2000 and the first RBS Six Nations Championship that finished with England claiming the trophy, but Scotland winning the Calcutta Cup thanks to his 19 points. It was the classic scenario of Scots rising up when least expected. The nation had won the last Five Nations Championship the year before, a tournament in which Hodge suffered a broken leg, and then slid out of the 1999 World Cup in traditional style, to New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

But with Ian McGeechan returning for another shot at coaching Scotland, 2000 began with a numbing defeat to newcomers Italy in Rome, and continued with a heavy loss in Ireland, defeat at home to France and away to Wales, before the Calcutta Cup match of 2 April arrived to offer salvation.

The annual match with England has been played against a backdrop of failure too often for the liking of Scotland supporters, and many have bemoaned the fact one win against the Auld Enemy can almost paper over a handful of other defeats. But that further underlines the enduring quality of this historic game. One wonders how many more wooden spoons Scotland may have collected had they not had the Calcutta Cup to look forward to as a final consolation.

From the first Four Nations Championship in 1883, tradition dictated that Scotland and England met in the final fixture. There were some odd occasions of that differing, with some games postponed, but it was only in 1974 that the fixtures began to shift each year.

Still, in 1983, it was England at Twickenham that lifted Scotland from a run of three championship defeats and while France were the side beaten the following year for Jim Aitken's men to secure the Grand Slam, it was the English who were felled in the final act of the 1990 success.

There were plenty of times when it did not come off either, from the early Four Nations to, most recently, the 1995 clash at Twickenham in which the roles of 1990 were reversed and England claimed the Triple Crown, Five Nations Championship and Grand Slam with a 24-12 defeat of Gavin Hastings' team. The captain scored a record 56 points while the team finished with a championship record of 87 in total, but it was not enough to outshine an England side featuring many still hurting from the 1990 game.

Scotland were deprived of a Grand Slam by England again in 1996, back at Murrayfield, in a drab 18-9 defeat, but, since then, the Calcutta Cup has been about salvaging something from championship struggles. As far as salvages go the 21st century sides have not done too shabbily, plundering the silver from three Calcutta Cup meetings in nine years.

For Hodge, 2000 was when the trophy gleamed at its brightest. He scored all 19 points, from four penalties and then, with six minutes remaining, diving over to score his fourth Test try, and convert, for a 19-13 victory. It was Scotland's first win in the fixture for ten years and ended the longest run of defeats – ten, including the 1991 RWC semi-final loss in 1991.

"All games are big games, but there is definitely something a bit special about the England game," said Hodge. "It is a great memory for me.

"I look back on things like receiving my first letter saying I was selected for Scottish Schools, and the drop-goals that beat South Africa for Scotland A and Northampton, European Cup champions at the time, for Edinburgh Reivers as real highlights in my career, but, obviously, that Calcutta Cup win is up there with anything."

The 2000 game was a classic for every Scot that witnessed it, simply because it was achieved against the combined odds – not only those of bookmakers, but also the elements. Edited highlights were repeated this week on the ESPN Classic channel, and it underlined how it was far from plain sailing for Scotland.

After a fiery start, in which hooker Steve Brotherstone and Budge Pountney, the Scotland flanker, led punch-ups that laid down a clear marker, Lawrence Dallaglio scored an easy try from a scrum and Jim McLaren was sin-binned for tackling Mike Tindall around his head.

Hodge recalled: "It was a bit like our game with Ireland last week. We were hanging on in the first half the way the Irish were and I remember Andy Nicol leading a great counter-attack from our half, and great off-loading by players, that end with a penalty, which I put over at the end of the half.

"England should have gone in 10-6 up, but it was 10-9, and just as Ireland didn't deserve to be as close to us last week as they were, we didn't deserve to be that close in 2000. But we were, and then when we got another penalty just after half-time, and went 12-10 ahead, I remember this huge momentum shift.

"The rain started streaming down then, and that probably suited us because they'd been playing a very expansive game in that championship and winning games with lots of tries, and we were more limited."

As for the try that clinched the win, the picture of which adorns walls all over the country, the stand-off can recall it in detail.

"We were attacking and the rain was teeming down. Andy (Nicol] charged towards the line, Scott Murray drove on, then it squirted out and Gordy McIlwham dived on it. I don't quite know why I was there; I was going in to help probably and then I saw the ball, grabbed it ... and I think I beat about ten players from 50 yards and that was it.

"I have a great picture of me diving over the line with the ball, and because it was so wet, as soon as I forced it down the ball skidded out of my hands. There is a split-moment where I look straight up at the ref to check he's seen the try. The picture captures that moment, and there are four other pairs of eyes all fixed on the ref. It was a bit special."

That was the game in which Matt Dawson and his players scurried down the tunnel as soon as the final whistle sounded, shunning the traditional clap of opponents. They refused also to return for the presentation of the Calcutta Cup, after which they were to receive the first Six Nations trophy.

In 2006, it was the turn of Jason White – who had made his debut in the 2000 match – to lead Scotland to another surprise victory over a much-fancied England side in the middle of a tournament which yielded three wins for new coach Frank Hadden, while Mike Blair was the Scottish skipper thrusting the famous trophy to the Murrayfield skies last year in what proved to be Scotland's only win of the championship.

Blair captains Scotland again today, White remains a key figure in the pack and Chris Paterson is the only player today to have started all three 21st century wins. Hodge is now the squad's kicking coach and he believes the long search for a first Twickenham win since 1983 is within reach if some of the traits of 2000 are rekindled.

"The big thing I remember about 2000, and it was obvious in the recent wins too, was that we competed for the whole game," he added. "We have struggled in this championship to do that.

"In 2000, we weren't the better team in the first half, but hung in, and then took our chances when they came, and we've got to play that way again this weekend.

"The Calcutta Cup is a fantastic occasion. It gives these players now something more tangible than a win against Italy to take from the championship.

"When you compare the two teams this weekend I don't see a lot of difference, and I don't see why we can't end the wait, which would make this, probably, the best Calcutta Cup match for a long, long time."