The game grew out of a challenge published in a sporting weekly, signed by the captains of five Scottish clubs, who invited any team "selected from the whole of England" to play under rugby rules. The match lasted two halves of 50 minutes on the cricket ground of Edinburgh Academicals. Scotland won by a goal and a try to England's single try. It was the first international match in any rugby code, and the rivalry continues today in the Calcutta Cup.
In 1870 an England side had beaten Scotland in a football match played at the Oval in London, and Scots complained that the team had been chosen from Scotsmen living in London. Rugby men in Scotland replied with a challenge. The Football Association did not control their game, they argued, and a true test between the two nations should be played under the rugby rules most Scottish schools followed.
The match took place on Monday, March 27, 1871, at Raeburn Place. Each side fielded 20 players, mostly forwards, and there were no referees in the modern sense: two umpires, one from each country, settled disputes. Scotland's first try was contested and prompted a long argument before the goal was allowed.
The result was a Scottish victory before a crowd of about 4,000. A return match was played at the Oval the next year, and the Rugby Football Union, founded in January 1871, took charge of English teams. The two nations have played almost every year since, and the Calcutta Cup, first contested in 1879, is still at stake.
Key people: Francis Moncreiff, Frederick Stokes