Stuart Hogg hailed a monumental team effort after Scotland retained the Calcutta Cup with a thrilling 20-17 victory against England.
A second-half penalty try and late Finn Russell penalty saw the hosts come from seven points down at BT Murrayfield to topple England in Round 1 for the second year in a row.
Last year’s success came at Twickenham, where Scotland won for the first time since 1983, and Hogg said afterwards he thought the victory was the start of something special.
And now, following their first back-to-back Calcutta Cup successes in 38 years, the Scotland captain insists this result is proof they can mix it with the best.
“I am chuffed to bits, we wanted to come out here and put on a show and show what we are about,” he said.
“At times, we got it right and at times we were up against it. England are a fantastic side but we are absolutely delighted with that.
“For Darcy Graham to get that turnover right at the end, he is a pocket rocket, 5”9 and he managed to get that turnover for us.
“I am so delighted, it was a full squad effort. We believe in ourselves as individuals and in ourselves as a collective.
“I said this time last year that this was the start of something special and next week is a challenge to back it up and do it again.”
Scotland led 10-6 at half time thanks to a debut try for Ben White, who was on the field as a HIA replacement for starting scrum-half Ali Price when he dotted down.
However, England dominated for large parts of the match and steadily took control in the second half when Smith added two more penalties to his first-half pair and scored England’s only try.
But Scotland hit back and were awarded a penalty try when Luke Cowan-Dickie was ruled to have deliberately knocked on while defending a crossfield kick, before Russell booted through a penalty to win it eight minutes from time.
Scotland have been talked up as potential title contenders this year but Hogg is refusing to get carried away, instead focusing on their Round 2 trip to Wales next week.
“I am not going to get carried away, this was one game,” he said.
“We will go back to the drawing board on Monday and make sure that we work incredibly hard to back it up and be the best version of ourselves next Saturday.”
