Twelve months ago, Scotland triumphed at Twickenham. Nearly the entire backline from that game (all bar Blair Kinghorn in place of Stuart Hogg at full back) and half of the forwards (Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Grant Gilchrist and Jamie Ritchie) are returning starters for this year’s encounter.
By contrast, all seven English backs from 2023 have disappeared, while Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Maro Itoje and Ollie Chessum are the only members of the pack retained from that most recent Calcutta Cup clash.
When they last travelled to Scotland, Tommy Freeman and George Furbank were seemingly given the freedom of Scotstoun as they both played crucial roles for Northampton in a Champions Cup dismantling of Glasgow Warriors.
Defence coach, Steve Tandy, will expect his charges to make a far better job of containing the English wide men than Glasgow did. That most likely starts further infield though by restricting the amount and quality of possession reaching the wings in particular.
On the other side of the ball though, the Scots will feel they can do some real damage if they can get to the edge of England’s defensive line. Scotland’s back 3 players have scored 35 tries in the dark blues’ last 20 Test matches. After a rare blank versus France this trio will be looking to get back over the tryline.
After debuting internationally in last year’s Six Nations’ opener against England, Huwipulotu have filled the centre berths in 13 of Scotland’s last 16 Tests.
This time round, they will face off against an opposition centre pairing who mirror what the Scottish duo bring to the game in many ways. The balance of both units is set up more for what they can bring in attack than defence. The respective inside centres are powerful carriers but with much more to their performances than that rather reductive label implies.
The outside centres are full of clever lines and arcing breaks. They can’t simply contribute going forward though, with both 13s needing to bring the linespeed in defence to shut down any width on the ball.
Danny Care’s first ever start against Scotland came at Murrayfield all the way back in 2010. He was up against Chris Cusiter, with Rory Lawson the replacement scrum half for Scotland on that day. This time round he will be taking on Ben White (who, incidentally, was just 11 years old when Care played in that game).
The White / Russell partnership has been the go to in the half backs for Scotland since they played at Twickenham together last year – 11 of Finn’s last 13 starts have been outside the Toulon scrum half. The duo have combined for a remarkable 73 kicks from hand across the opening rounds of the Six Nations.
It’s the ability to both relieve and apply pressure consistently that is among the key drivers for White’s selection ahead of Scotland’s other scrum half options. He’s an excellent foil for Russell who has been given a bit more freedom in his own kicking game due to his number 9 taking on so much of the basic clearing work.
Six years have passed since Dan Cole last started against Scotland. Already in his 30s at that point, the veteran prop’s opposite number on that previous occasion was Simon Berghan, while he went head to head with Gordon Reid at scrum time.
The Leicester tighthead will face off with what is unquestionably Scotland’s strongest front row. Over the last few years no other triumvirate comes close to the regularity of selection of Schoeturson (as no-one is calling it).
The scrum hasn’t been the most stable of platforms for either side in the tournament so far. That’s possibly more of a problem for England who have mainly prioritised setpiece specialists without getting the dominance they would have liked. Scotland’s trio are massive contributors in open play but even they need to get the fundamentals right and improve on a lowly 59% scrum success rate.
It feels like a long time ago that Maro Itoje was laughing in the face of John Barclay, as the English lock’s side wiped the floor with Scotland in London during his Calcutta Cup debut. Since that chastening afternoon in 2017, the Saracens’ man has lost four times and won just once against the dark blues. He’s probably slightly less amused these days when Scotland fixtures roll around...
Grant Gilchrist will be the 19th player to win 70 caps for Scotland Men – and the seventh of that group to have played in the second row. A position that rewards longevity? Or is it just tough finding Scottish folk over 6’5”? A little of column A and a little of column B most likely! Gilchrist has grafted exceptionally hard for his place over the years though and has seen off any number of pretenders to his jersey. His contribution will be vital on Saturday and will set the tone for who wins the battle up front.
There has been a fair amount of tinkering with Scotland’s back row during the championship as the coaches look to find the perfect blend. For this match they’ve reverted back to the unit that came together just prior to the World Cup and was first choice throughout that tournament.
The twin scavengers approach has served the Scots well against England. John Barclay and Hamish Watson in 2018. Jamie Ritchie and Watson in 2021 and 2022. This time round it’s the turn of Ritchie and Rory Darge to make a mess of the visitors’ breakdown.
How the referee views the sides attacking the breakdown will be a vital component of success or failure in this area. The Scots have more experience with Mr Brace as the man in the middle and need to make sure they are on his wavelength right from the first ruck.
All five of Scotland’s forward replacements have played in the Premiership so there shouldn’t be too many surprises – for either side. Clubmates, Andy Christie and Theo Dan will have a particularly close eye on who has bragging rights when they are reunited at Saracens in a month or so. The English hooker may have less of an influence on the game though – he only averages seven minutes of game time across his ten selections in the number 16 shirt.
Players in BLOCK CAPITALS have been selected for the British & Irish Lions
Miscellany
– There are 9 Glasgow Warriors, 7 Edinburgh men and 7 Exiles in the Scotland 23. The English squad is made up of players from Saracens (5), Bath (4), Exeter (3), Harlequins (3), Leicester (3) and Northampton (3) plus 1 each from Bristol and Sale.
– This is just the second time in the Townsend era (77 Tests) that the head coach has named the same bench for consecutive matches – also England (A) and Wales (H) in 2021.
– Scotland can overtake England in the world rankings – but only a win by at least 16 points will be enough. Given that’s something the dark blues have managed just twice in 153 years of playing against the red roses (33 – 6 in the 1986 Five Nations, 26 – 6 in the 1971 Centenary International) that seems like the longest of long shots.
– Between 2006 and 2010, Scotland managed two wins and a draw against England from their three meetings at Murrayfield – all without scoring a single try (14 penalties and 2 drop goals across the fixtures). It’s maybe unlikely that Finn Russell will channel his inner Dan Parks on Saturday but it’s always worth reflecting on there being more than one way to win a close match.
– Scotland’s match against France two weeks ago was the 300th they have played in the professional era. Their winning percentage in this period (44.00%) is remarkably similar to their winning percentage for the 123 years (and 444 Test matches they played) when rugby was amateur (43.69%).
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