This place has been a famous graveyard for English hopes, so here was a twist of sorts. A stalemate and a game if not quite as stale as some of the turgid stuff we've seen in this fixture in recent years then pretty ropey all the same.
But it did not follow the usual script of Murrayfield ding-dongs between these two – you know, when England are mugged by a ravenous group of Scottish axemen coming at them from all angles, usually in the pouring rain, ruining the rhythm of supposedly superior players and laughing all the way back to the Highlands. Here, it was the Scots who looked the superior side – superior of wit, superior of pace and unlucky not to have notched up a third consecutive win over England at Murrayfield.
At the heart of it was a back row who easily outclassed their opposite numbers. They call them the Killer Bees, a triumvirate of Glasgow warriors, whose battle with their opponents represented the different philosophies adopted by the two teams. Sadly, they did not leave the field together, a horrible clash of heads seeing Kelly Brown, Scotland's No 6, staggering towards the touchline just shy of the hour mark. A shame, because he had continued his form as one of the players of the championship.
Offloads were what stood out as much as anything among that deadly Scottish collective. Little things they are, these simple flicks to team-mates running off the shoulder at pace, but what a difference they make to the complexion of the game. That Scotland were unable to finish off any of the resultant chances will continue to haunt them. The story of their last two matches has been missed opportunity.
Johnnie Beattie took the nomination for man of the match and was worthy of it, but Brown (if he'd stayed the distance) and the third of the trio, John Barclay, would have been equally deserving of the award. Barclay is turning into quite the openside. Ravenous at the tackle, subtle of hand, imaginative of running line and blessed with explosive power – that pretty much covers it when it comes to the attributes of the ideal openside.
And what of England? Martin Johnson has not been doing a lot of smiling lately, and this will not do much to change his mood. He feels besieged by the media these days, and his team play as if very much feeling his pain. He picked a good old-fashioned trencherman in Joe Worsley at openside, a selection that earned him some more stick from that press corps gathering at the gate. Worsley is known as a tree-cutter, but these particular trees were not standing still. No wonder so many tackles were being missed.
But this was not a game to excite. The mood in the stadium had been pretty disgruntled by the stalemate already, blighted by endless resets at scrum time on a muddy surface. But the clash of heads between Brown and Ugo Monye just before the hour lent a sickening twist to the general ill humour.
Scotland have had quite enough of sickening injuries already, what with the near-paralytic condition Thom Evans found himself in two rounds ago in Cardiff. The Scotland medic had certainly had enough, and he practically stopped the game himself, such were his frantic wavings when Brown went down after a headlong charge for the line. It had been just about the best of Scotland's chances, but Monye, like England, is nothing if not brave.
By now it had turned into a war zone. England had lost two backs, with Jonny Wilkinson leaving the field a few minutes before Monye with another blow to the head. Young Ben Youngs came on for his debut and the scrum-half was immediately sent to the wing.
Scotland once again finished the game down to the bare bones, the bench rung dry of replacements for hobbling players. Just as in Cardiff, their endgame was ruined by the injury count. It meant they could not mount a last assault on the game. And the two penalties with which Dan Parks rattled the posts were as close as they came to taking the win.
It was England who finished the game in the ascendancy. A try was out of the question, but Toby Flood's hopeful drop goal was partially charged down, and Graeme Morrison decided to boot the ball out and take the draw. Fair enough. It has been a sickening Six Nations for Scotland so far, and one point is better than none. But a point of a different kind had been made and will no doubt be thrust in the direction of Johnson this week. Scotland were the better team here. England can barely raise so much as a pulse.
