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Maro does the M with Calcutta Cup

England Men

22 Feb 2025 | 4 min |

Reaction to England's Calcutta Cup win over Scotland

Hear from England Senior Men's captain Maro Itoje and his teammates, Fin Smith and Ollie Chessum as they react to reclaiming the Calcutta Cup in Round 3 of the Guinness Men's Six Nations.

Captain Itoje says there is more to come from his side as they reclaimed the Calcutta Cup with a thrilling 16-15 win over Scotland.

Despite a Tommy Freeman try and eight points from Marcus Smith, with Fin Smith contributing a late penalty, England were made to work for the trophy.

Itoje said: "The performance was a bit mixed.

"Scotland played a lot in our half and we didn't exit the way we wanted but we did fight and scrap. There is loads for us to get better at but we are delighted to win.

"In the first half and the second half, we probably didn't play as much as we wanted and Scotland probably played more than us but we were more clinical than we have been."

Calcutta Cup moments 2025
Fin Smith's long-range penalty built a six-point buffer.

Freeman's try was his third in three games, but England will hope to create more in future, although there were signs such as Marcus Smith's break on the stroke of half-time.

Itoje added: "There is a feeling we are going to score so we just need to find ways of being there more and then we will execute more."

England's gritty win was their first Calcutta Cup victory on home soil since 2017 and the significance wasn't lost on young fly-half Fin Smith.

"It's a weird one," said Smith. "The overriding feeling is obviously buzzing and that's sometimes how you have to win in games like that when the stakes are high.

"That's four years that it's gone against us and it wasn't a classic, but in a couple of weeks time we'll look back on that and think 'who cares about the performance, it was a W on the scoresheet and we got the Cup back.'"

Calcutta Cup moments 2025
Ollie Chessum and Joe Heyes pose with the Calcutta Cup.

Like his teammates, Chessum feels that there is more to come from the team, but from a personal point of view he has battled back from injury for his first England start in almost a year.

"When you've not started a game for a year nerves are pretty high," said the lock. "I love playing for England and to start in a game like this it's massive.

"Every time you have a big injury and surgery you question whether it's going to feel the same again and often when you're back playing it doesn't always feel 100% right.

"I'm just delighted to be back out here, in this shirt and back in front of this crowd, it's incredible.  

"We don't want to leave another game to chance like that, but we've come out on the right side of the result and won the Cup back."