There are myths about Murrayfield that we hear about every year. Some I agree with, some I don’t, but I can honestly say it is a stadium where the conditions can be like nowhere else. It is one of the hardest stadiums to play in because the shape of it means that when the wind gets inside the bowl it just doesn’t stop swirling.
The key for England, then, is to get their preparation right. You can try to acclimatise in the warm-up and that does make a difference, but if the players have not got their mental approach right in the buildup it’ll be a long day at the office because the forecast looks dreadful. For me, that would start on a Monday morning. One of the first things I would do is check the weather forecast and from that moment on I was able to start my mental prep.
If rain and wind were predicted I immediately knew that my defence and my aerial skills would be paramount. I would spend time in training honing those skills, or if there wasn’t time within the sessions, I would scrub up on them before or after. I just don’t subscribe to the viewpoint that players can be taken by surprise by the conditions. It has to play a huge part of players’ preparations so you can plan accordingly.
I expect that George Ford has been raining spiral bombs down on England’s back-three players all week to get them ready. It’s a tactic that makes the ball so unpredictable in its movements, it disables players from trying to get up into the air, trying to own the space and be protected. That will absolutely help and I fully expect to see him try it if and when he comes off the bench. On top of that, I’m sure Eddie Jones will have had the buckets out, soaking the balls in water.
From a coaching point of view, most of them are control freaks by nature but the weather is a variable over which they have no control – except when it comes to the Principality roof – but you can be certain that they will plan for every eventuality to account for that loss of control.
To refer to my initial point, however, I’m not sure I buy into the idea that Murrayfield is a particularly daunting place to go. It can be hostile but as a player that is something I would feed off. Those types of gladiatorial atmospheres are exactly what you want as a player and personally speaking, I preferred the emotional response from being booed more than being cheered. There’s no better feeling than being a player away from home and getting booed because, from a performance perspective, the only reason that is happening is because you’re playing well. There is nothing worse than being clapped off, it’s just belittling. Being booed is a mark of respect and I found chasing that feeling a great buzz.
If you looked around after the national anthems knowing that it’s you plus 22 other players against 60,000 and it’s only us who can get the job done, it was so empowering. They’ll be loud at Murrayfield, they’ve got missing out on a first win at Twickenham since 1983 to make up for, and now they can get there and enjoy it. My advice to England players sampling it for the first time is to relish it.
I believe that they will, and I think they will pip Scotland, but I had two concerns when I saw the team announced. The first is the absence of out-and-out gas without Jonny May on the wing. And the second is size, again a problem largely brought on by injury issues with no Manu Tuilagi. I can’t remember the last time, going into a Calcutta Cup match, that I’ve looked at both lineups and thought the Scotland pack has the physical edge. Not in the front row but these days front-rows can often neutralise each other in terms of what they can do around the park. But in the back five of the scrum, I look at Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson and Matt Fagerson and I believe they have the physical edge on paper. We have two teams who want to play flat and fast, and the way you slow that is with gainline and at the breakdown. This Scotland team look better set to impose that defensive game than this England team.
Because of that, if England are going to be victorious it’ll be down to their replacements. This is the most inexperienced team Jones has picked in the Six Nations in terms of caps, but by contrast it is the most experienced set of replacements he has selected. Joe Marler, Jamie George, Alex Dombrandt, Ford, Jack Nowell, Harry Randall – that is a bench of huge quality. Sam Simmonds starting ahead of Dombrandt will have been a marginal call but I can see Dombrandt and Randall dovetailing together in the last quarter if Jones looks to up the tempo.
The kicking game will be crucial – it always is – but in Max Malins, Freddie Steward and Joe Marchant I believe England can have the edge there. I have doubts about Duhan van der Merwe aerially and it is an area of the game where Ireland and South Africa have both had success at Murrayfield in the past 12 months. They have shown England the blueprint to follow.
