England, and particularly Ben Te’o, had played down the rivalry between the two sides in the build-up to the match.
But that immediately seemed like hypocrisy when the two sides had to be pulled apart, with Farrell at the forefront, after their pre-match warm-ups.
The tunnel clash led to no referee involvement or recriminations but it informed the frenetic nature of the opening minutes.
Scotland took an early lead through the ever-reliable boot of Laidlaw, who has become almost Chris Paterson-ian in his consistency from the tee.
But the first real blood was drawn by Huw Jones, the outside-centre who has announced himself as one of the most dangerous attackers in Europe over the last 12 months.
A scrappy grubber kick from Russell, imperious after three weeks of heavy criticism, was hacked on and collected by Jones to score Scotland’s first try at Murrayfield against England since Simon Danielli crossed in 2004.
Farrell immediately clawed back three points but Scotland added a second try, Jones again making a fine break before the ball was recycled, moved left and Sean Maitland finished in the corner.
Glasgow’s Jones continued to make life hard for England’s midfield and he added a second for the afternoon just before the break, bursting through the line from nowhere and finding no support on his shoulder, going alone and carrying Anthony Watson and Mike Brown over the line.
The atmosphere at the break, with Scotland leading 22-6, was an incredulous one. After all, Scottish fans had been burnt many times before by misplaced optimism.
And there was a familiar feeling in the first moments of the second half as Care isolated Grant Gilchrist against Farrel and the England fly-half stepped around him to score.
The scrum-half thought he had turned provider-to-scorer 10 minutes later, only for his 60-metre interception and canter to be ruled out by referee Nigel Owens before he could even touchdown.
Farrell meanwhile was allowed that brief moment of celebration, capitalising on a turnover and a Watson fly-hack to score what appeared to be England’s second try of the day, but once again the referee intervened, the TMO correctly recognising a knock-on by Courtney Lawes.
Scotland worked hard at the breakdown, the dynamic trio of Hamish Watson, Ryan Wilson and the truly brilliant John Barclay outmatching their bigger, heavier English counterparts time and again and even when Sam Underhill came off the bench, he almost instantly returned to it for a no-arms tacle that earned him a yellow card.
Eddie Jones mobilised his finishers but the Scottish bench player their part too, Willie Nel winning a crucial penalty at the scrum to relieve the pressure with seven minutes to go.
In the closing moments, England found themselves frantically trying to grab a late try just to earn a losing bonus point but even that was beyond them.