England v Scotland - Teams and Prediction
Yesterday at 01:46 AM
ROUND THREE PREVIEW: England and Scotland head into Saturday's Calcutta Cup encounter at Twickenham knowing the outcome could determine the fate of their respective Six Nations campaigns.
Both sides have won one and lost one of their opening two fixtures, with England looking to prove a dramatic 26-25 defeat of France last time out that ended a run of seven straight losses to Tier One opponents was no fluke.
Scotland, meanwhile, are trying to recover from an 18-32 defeat at home to Ireland.
With unbeaten Ireland continuing their quest for an unprecedented third successive Six Nations title away to struggling Wales, a second loss of the tournament would likely spell the end of either England or Scotland's championship hopes.
"We don't want to be a team that has to react to get a performance you want," said England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth.
"The best teams find a way of getting better and getting results and it will be a big test for us this weekend to make sure we take the next step."
England's 21-30 loss to Scotland last year was especially galling, according to former Red Rose scrumhalf Wigglesworth.
"We made a huge amount of errors in that game which happens in a game of rugby, but they were errors that were unlike us," he said. "They were tentative errors and that is not what we wanted to be."
Scotland, fresh from a warm-weather training camp in Spain, are aiming for a fifth straight win over England in what is Rugby Union's oldest international fixture, with the cross-border rivals first meeting in 1871.
They have been boosted by the availability of co-captain Finn Russell after the flyhalf suffered a concussion against Ireland following a sickening first-half clash of heads with teammate Darcy Graham that saw both men leave the field.
Dashing wing Graham, however, has failed to recover in time, with his place taken by Kyle Rowe in a talented backline that also features Scotland record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe.
"They've been really good games [against England], I think they've been open and when they have been open your 10 [flyhalf] has got a big role to play in that," said coach Gregor Townsend.
One of Rugby Union's most enduring cliches, however, is that 'forwards win games and backs decide by how many points' and the way Ireland defeated Scotland will not have gone unnoticed by England head coach Steve Borthwick, himself a former Test lock.
Even before Russell's injury, Ireland's pack had torn into their Scotland counterparts, establishing a dominance they maintained for the whole game.
The preview continues below...
'Calm amongst chaos'
England, with Ollie Chessum partnering captain Maro Itoje in the second row in place of the injured George Martin, will now want to back up their powerful scrummaging effort against France.
"I'm sure they [England] will look to be as physical as possible," said Townsend, who has recalled former captain Jamie Ritchie and prop Pierre Schoeman to his pack. "That's international rugby, especially Six Nations rugby."
Fin Smith, the son of Scottish parents, remains England's flyhalf after an impressive first Test start at No.10 against France, with Marcus Smith again deployed at fullback by Borthwick rather than in his more familiar flyhalf role.
"Marcus is a brilliant attacker, counter-attacker," said former Scotland playmaker Townsend.
"But he's also a really good first receiver, so he can work in tandem with Fin, who is really competitive. He'll tackle, he'll carry. And he's a really good organiser of attacks. So they're dangerous with both those players."
Townsend, beaten just once by England since his appointment as Scotland coach in 2017, said the Calcutta Cup clash is the "fixture our nation and supporters look forward to more than any other".
But he also knows passion will only get the team so far.
"Maybe in the past...too much emotion came out," said Townsend, adding: "We have to be calm amongst the chaos, which there will be at times at the weekend."
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Players to watch
For England: Fin Smith gets another opportunity in the No.10 jersey after his performance in the win over France. There will be a spotlight on his combination with Marcus Smith in the backline again, especially on attack. Ollie Chessum will partner England captain Maro Itoje in the second row in place of George Martin, who is out with a knee problem. It will be Chessum's first start for England since last year's Six Nations. He missed the subsequent tour of Japan and New Zealand and the November internationals with shoulder and knee injuries.
For Scotland: The good news for Scotland is that co-captain Finn Russell has been passed fit to play following a concussion. He has the ability to unlock the tightest defences and that is what Townsend's team need on Saturday. Kyle Rowe replaces Darcy Graham on the wing. Townsend also makes two changes to his pack as former skipper Jamie Ritchie replaces Matt Fagerson in the front row. Pierre Schoeman takes over from Rory Sutherland in the front row.
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Prediction
@rugby365com: England by five points.
Teams:
England: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Will Stuart, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Ben Curry, 22 Harry Randall, 23 Elliot Daly.
Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (co-captain), 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge (co-captain), 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Jonny Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Gregor Brown, 21 Matt Fagerson, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Stafford McDowall.
Date: Saturday, February 22
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-off: 16.45 (16.45 GMT)
Expected weather: It will be sunny intervals with light wind and a temperature around 12°C at kick-off.
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)
AFP & @rugby365com
