John Barclay played down reports of a scuffle in the tunnel before his side’s first Calcutta Cup victory over England in a decade.

As the sides left the field following the warm-up to return to the dressing room, the England centre Owen Farrell and the Scotland No 8 Ryan Wilson found themselves in the middle of a shoving match.

“I heard about it but I am always the first off the pitch after the warm-up and I was in the toilets,” said the Scotland captain. “It is one of those things that gets built up into something more than it was. It is a big game and a big rivalry. It was niggly and physical with a lot on the line.

“The guys fronted up brilliantly and it was a satisfying win against a brilliant side. We knew we would get stick after our Wales in the opening round, but we knew we were not a bad side.”

Barclay had predicted the fly-half Finn Russell, who had struggled in the opening two weekends, would be the man of the match. “He thrives on criticism,” said Barclay. “It is water off a duck’s back to him and the way we played with tempo and width kept them guessing. We made smart decisions.”

It was Scotland’s first victory over England since 2008 and when they scored the first of their three tries it ended a 14-year drought against the men in white in Edinburgh. They scored more points than any side has against England in the Eddie Jones era and defended fiercely at the end, when the game was won, to prevent the reigning champions pilfering a bonus point.

It was only England’s second defeat in 26 Tests under Jones, who deflected questions about the tunnel incident, saying he did not want to detract from “an outstanding” Scotland victory.

“I do not know anything about a scuffle,” he said. “We were ready for a war and knew the significance of the game and what would get thrown at us, getting off the bus and having abuse yelled at us. We did not deal with it well enough.

“Scotland deserve all the credit. We were not there in the first half and that is my fault. They beat us at the breakdown, cut holes in our defence, stifled our attacking game and read the referee superbly. I take responsibility for that and there is plenty for us to look at ahead of our next game in France.”