Scotland travel to Twickenham on the back of a chastening loss to Ireland in round two, hoping that they can resume the recent hoodoo over England home and away and claim a fifth Calcutta Cup in a row.
Scotland record against England
Gregor Townsend has opted for a less Tombola-Tastic approach than normal, choosing to rotate somewhat back to the team that defeated Italy in the opening round.
Some spaces have been filled through injury with winger Kyle Rowe coming in for the concussed Darcy Graham and Tom Jordan continuing to fill in at 12. Rowe featured heavily last year when Darcy was injured; neither are slouches and will be less familiar to English players than, say, Arron Reed or Cam Redpath/Rory Hutchinson.
Finn Russell has passed his return-to-play protocols and is one of three Fin(n)s across both match-day squads—surpassed only by the number of Ollie’s in England’s team. I am sure Glasgow’s Ollie Smith is disappointed to miss out.
In the pack, Matt Fagerson possibly suffered from two fairly noticeable clangers in the desperate defeat to Ireland and is rotated to the bench in favour of Jamie Ritchie.
Townsend has not learned the lesson of two weekends ago at Murrayfield, and has once again opted for a 6:2 bench; mind you, so has Steve Borthwick the England head coach.
Also rotated are the looseheads with Pierre Schoemann returning to the starting shirt, meaning that Scotland will start with arguably their strongest scrummaging unit on the pitch.
With Johnny Gray and Grant Gilchrist failing to set the heather on fire last time out, Townsend has opted for two potential second-row replacements on the bench: Sam Skinner and Gregor Brown.
England: Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Lawrence, Henry Slade, Ollie Sleightholme, Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Stuart, Maro Itoje (capt), Ollie Chessum, Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Tom Willis.
Replacements: Jamie George, Fin Baxter, Joe Heyes, George Martin Ted Hill (updated 20/2), Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Curry, Harry Randall, Elliot Daly.
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn, Kyle Rowe, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell (capt), Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson, Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge (capt), Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Will Hurd, Sam Skinner, Gregor Brown, Matt Fagerson, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowall.
13 responses
Oh dear, that second row partnership is a huge worry, poor against Italy & anonymous against Ireland. It’s the one area that needed improving but Toony has ignored the bleeding obvious. Players should be selected on current form not favouritism & what they’ve done in the past.
That is the Toonie way. Doing the same things again and hoping for a different result.
While I agree with your assessment of how the 2nd row has gone, I’m interested in who you’d start instead.
I would have gone with Cummings and Williamson but they’re both injured sadly.
Sam Skinner should start.
Skinner played very well for Edinburgh in the defeat away to Scarlets & scored a try, at least he has been playing regularly unlike Gray. Cameron Henderson of Leicester Tigers at 6′ 7″ and 18 stone 8lbs would be a better option than Gilchrist. An untried combination but the first two games proved the current duo are not the answer. Townsend has changed the front & back row but kept the poorest part of the pack the same.
The good: Finn’s fit to play, Jordan’s at 12.
The Toony: Same second row as against Ireland (nope, I don’t understand it either), a 6-2 split (ditto), a still struggling Ritchie in at 6, George Horne and his quick service not in the 23, Stafford MacDowall on the bench rather than Redpath.
Oh well, it is what it is. At least common sense has prevailed re. Darcy – the welfare of any player, no matter how good they are, is of paramount importance.
Good luck to the lads.
really dont fancy our chances for this one – hope i am proven wrong.
The England pack looks strong and I can see ours going backwards for most of the game. The only way we win this is if we come out on top at the breakdown and Finn orchestrates something special that more than compensates for our weak second row and lack of impact from the bench in the second half. A lot of pressure on his shoulders on Saturday.
The England front three aren’t that strong at Test level. Our starting front three are better than them. Expecting parity in the tight overall and a major battle at the breakdown. Also expecting, as Test rugby goes these days, a kick-and chase-fest. Really hoping first that Kinghorn fields the bombs like he did against Italy and that second, VdM and Rowe climb all over England’s catchers.
I think that as in recent Calcutta Cups no more than a handful of points will separate the sides.
I find the alternative options for second row a slight myth personally, different, so must be better? Not sold on that idea.
Skinner doesn’t have a great work rate around the park, nothing like to the same extent of Gilchrist or Gray even in his current state, Skinner is more often than not a disappointed and hasn’t lived up to the early hope and doesn’t have a great deal of form to speak of.
I personally trust what is there to afford the backs a chance to at least win the game, with the alterative options at second row, I would be more concerned they could take that away
I don’t have an issue with a 6/2 split either, the outcome of the Ireland game proved nothing when it comes to that form of bench option, 2 of your players rattle heads and have to go off, you are screwed by the end no matter how you split your bench.
The clutch of backs we have in this game is fine, capable of winning a game, offering the pack as much chance for work rate, grunt, and a form of aggression from the bench, I can see the logic in it.
It would be useful to see the statistics on workrate about the park ! Not saying you are right or wrong , good point , just needs backup to win me.
The work rate of Gray and Gilchrist? I would say eye test confirms to the vast majority that work rate of the two has always been one of their main assets, and something they excel at.
Even this 6N when neither have been particularly great the attacking rucks hit arrival of sees both in the top 7 to validate how active they are around the park in terms of looking for and finding work.
I genuinely can’t recall ever really seeing Skinner massively praised for work rate during his time for Scotland. I just can’t get on board with the idea he somehow offers a better choice than the other two, there is so little to validate it. It sounds fantastic to say something than the other two. I do get that but then I remember watching Skinner often and the reality of
the player he actually is
I’d say these are two very evenly matched teams. I see little between the front 5 (Jonny hopefully fully match fit now) and our back row looks really competitive if they stay on the right side of the French referee. If we make clean breaks in midfield we will score tries as the England back three regularly miss tackles, but we’ll concede too if both Smiths and Mitchell pepper our back 3 and they are not on their game. Hopeful of some Finn magic today to open up a not great defence but expect a tight game nonetheless.