WATCH: Pundit questions Calcutta Cup winning decision as “dodgy penalty try”

Virgin Media pundit, Matt Williams questions as to whether the intentional knock-on which led to a penalty try, should have been awarded.

One key moment which led to Scotland retaining the Calcutta Cup was a penalty try conceded by England in the 65th minute of the game where substitute Luke Cowan-Dickie intentionally knocked the ball into touch preventing an almost-certain Scottish try.

England led 17-10 with 15 minutes remaining, when Scotland were inside the English 22 and Finn Russell decided to put in a cross kick for winger Darcy Graham. Substitute hooker Cowan-Dickie read the kick, had his hands in the air but opted to slap the ball into touch rather than attempting to field the ball.

Following a TMO review, referee Ben O’ Keefe opted to send Cowan-Dickie off for 10 minutes to the sin bin and award Scotland with a penalty try. This left the score at 17 a piece coming into the final 10 minutes. Then in the 72nd minute, Finn Russell slotted a penalty for Scotland to beat rivals England and kick off their 2022 Six Nations campaign with a win.

Virgin Media pundit, and former Scotland head coach, Matt Williams said “I’ve seen some dodgy penalties tries and that’s right up there”. Williams was not certain that the act of foul play would have led to a definite try had it not been committed.