This preview will not print the date Scotland last won in England because partly it’s been bandied about everywhere and partly because it’s irrelevant.
There are a lot of minute factors that usually define victories in international rugby which may fall into the irrelevance category this year in what will be another strange tournament played under the cloud of a global pandemic.
That gives Scotland hope against England, but with the Scottish it’s about managing expectations.
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Scots supporter’s imaginations easily rival their English counterparts but what isn’t even between England and Scotland is rugby resources.
Let’s get it out of the way early so we can move on – England’s resources: Tom Curry, Billy Vunipola, Owen Farrell, George Ford, Henry Slade, Jonny May, Maro Itoje, Elliot Daly, Courtney Lawes, Anthony Watson – the list goes on (and the list takes into account those who are injured for Saturday’s encounter).
Scotland have positives of their own – Zander Fagerson, Rory Sutherland, Darcy Graham, the exciting Duhan van der Merwe, captain Hogg and the returning Finn Russell.
If ever Scotland need Russell’s impulsive, almost erratic style of rugby it’ll be against England. The one thing England cannot plan for is the unexpected, and that’s what Russell brings.
“I truly believe we can go down there and win and I don’t say things just for the sake of saying it. The way we have been training in the last couple of days and the excitement levels in the squad, we’re excited for the challenge.”
Scotland Captain Stuart Hogg
There’s other unpredictabilities in this year’s tournament, particularly how teams react to the absence of fans.
It’ll go either way in the empty and echoing caldron that is Twickenham on Saturday afternoon. Either England will lose performance not being spurred on by the 80,000 faithful or Scotland will be totally exposed on the pitch, all alone, literally, as the England pack advance.
There’s other potential positives for Scotland including a floundering Welsh side, closing the gap on Ireland and three matches to be played at Murrayfield.
Stuart Hogg was certainly focussing on the positives when he spoke to the BBC Rugby podcast at the start of the week. The Scotland captain believes Townsend’s squad can bring the Calcutta Cup back up the road and is embracing this year’s tournament.
“I’m excited about it because I truly believe we can go down there and win and I don’t say things just for the sake of saying it. The way we have been training in the last couple of days and the excitement levels in the squad, we’re excited for the challenge, we understand how bloody difficult it’s going to be but that’s why we’re here. These are the games you want to be involved in.”
Can Scotland finish higher than third for the first time in a decade and split the big two of France and England? Like I said before, not many home nations match the inspiration of the Scottish imagination.
No matter what it’ll be a tournament fought for with everything left on the pitch in this the 150th year of Scottish international rugby. A better stat than last time Scotland won at ‘Twickers’? First time Scotland played England – back in 1871.
Again it’s February, again it’s cold, and again History beckons.
Player to watch: Finn Russell
Who else? You can’t keep your eyes off the mercurial fly-half simply because half the time even he doesn’t know what he’s going to do next. The most exciting player to watch in world rugby at the moment.
England v Scotland, Six Nations 2021, Rnd 1, Kick-off 4.45pm.
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 