Freddie Steward says England’s rookies are ready to thrive amid the hostility that will greet them at Murrayfield in the Calcutta Cup.
Scotland host England on Saturday as the Six Nations gets underway, with Eddie Jones’ side hit by a fitness crisis ahead of the clash.
Experienced quintet Anthony Watson, Courtney Lawes, Jonny May, Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi are out with injury, while Jonny Hill is also sidelined.
It means full-back Steward, 21, and the other younger players in the squad will have to step up to the plate for the showdown.
“It’s definitely something that I’m looking forward to. I am nervous, but it’s not something I’m scared of,” said Steward.
“It’s something that’s very hard to replicate [in training] — that hostility from the crowd. It’s definitely going to be a new experience.
“We’ve been working really hard in training during the week trying to prepare ourselves for that hostility and trying to make sure that it doesn’t affect our performance.
“I’ve not played for England yet away from Twickenham, so I’m really looking forward to the experience.”
The likes of Steward have broken into the England time during the Covid era, meaning they have not experienced playing in a packed stadium away from home. Scrum-half Ben Youngs, who has made more than 100 Test appearances for England, is a veteran of such encounters and he has been giving advice to the youngsters in the squad.
“The best thing we’ve done this week is we had a good discussion as a team,” said Steward.
“Some of the boys have experienced that atmosphere before and spoke about what it was like, and what to expect. As a guy who’s not done it before, it’s brilliant to hear from those boys about that experience, so when we arrive on Saturday it’s not something unfamiliar — you’ve heard about it and expect it.
“Ben Youngs was the man speaking about it the most. He’s a massively experienced player with England who has done it all. He spoke about what to expect, coming off the bus, the hostility of the environment. We’ve got to be at our best to block that out.”
England have also been preparing for the weather conditions at Murrayfield, with rain and wind forecast.
“We’ve had a couple of buckets of water to dunk the balls in during training, so we’ve been trying to replicate that,” said Steward.
“It’s been quite breezy here this week so we’ve been able to replicate that without even trying really. The boys have been brilliant practising as a back three.”
