In recent times the Calcutta Cup has morphed into the “Scottish play” the English would rather not mention by name. One Red Rose win in seven attempts and four consecutive victories for Gregor Townsend’s side has certainly been an uncomfortable sequence for those who, for decades, regarded death and taxes as only marginally more inevitable than Scotland losing down south.
So much for the supposed dead weight of history. “What’s done cannot be undone,” murmured Lady Macbeth but she wasn’t privy to the skill and daring of Finn Russell or the killer finishing of Duhan van der Merwe. The last time England lost three or more consecutive home games in this fixture was in the early 1900s before Twickenham became their spiritual home.
The cyclical nature of sport and sheer weight of numbers, though, would suggest an English revival has to materialise at some point. The big question is when – and Saturday, in theory, offers a perfect opportunity. Boosted by their thrilling win over France – and with their aches and pains nicely rested – this is theoretically a re-energised England side with their tail up.
All of which ignores one niggling little word. Consistency. England have tended to be a side who wax and wane, not only from week to week or half to half but from minute to minute. Even against France they were required to ride their luck and might have been 20 points down in the first half if Les Bleus had not seemingly been playing with a piece of soap.
Last year at Murrayfield was another prime example. It is easy to forget England made an encouraging start, conjuring a lovely early try for George Furbank not dissimilar in its execution to Elliot Daly’s dramatic score against France last Saturday week. But a fumble here and a missed tackle there allowed their grateful hosts to sneak back into the contest and, thereafter, English shoulders started to drop.
Small wonder a number of players have since described that wounding experience as a line in the sand. The following week they vowed that, in future, they would be bolder, stick in the fight and not roll over as easily. Aside from some frustrating autumn performances, when defensive uncertainty cost them, they have mostly stayed true to that pledge.
Hence why this now feels to be a potentially pivotal stepping stone for English self-esteem and their medium-term outlook. Win again and there will be every chance of a top-two Six Nations finish, their first since 2020. Succumb once again to the wiles of Russell and Van der Merwe, who has scored five tries against England in his past two games facing the “auld enemy”, and Caledonian sniggering will grow ever louder.
In pursuit of extra motivation, England’s coaches could do a lot worse on the eve of this game than replay the episode of Full Contact, the Netflix fly-on-the-wall show based around last year’s Six Nations, in which a grinning Russell cheekily refers to a tartan Calcutta Cup victory as “normal” these days. It is no coincidence that Scotland’s solitary recent defeat by England, in 2020, came when Russell was absent. Wiping that familiar smile off the Bath ringmaster’s face will be high on English wishlists.
The most pertinent footage of all, though, is Scotland’s first-half shocker in round two against Ireland, when pre-match optimism was already dissolving before the sickening collision between Russell and Darcy Graham. Apply pressure with and without the ball, safely defuse the restarts and slow down Scotland’s trademark ruck speed and opponents generally prosper.
It is the reason why Scotland, when it comes to the crunch, have struggled to take the final title leap, even with probably their best all-round squad of the modern era. Beating England has proved much more straightforward than upsetting the Irish or the Springboks, either home or away. In terms of Six Nations consistency, the Scots have been as up and down as their neighbours.
To regain the high road Townsend’s team will first need to resow a few seeds of doubt in English minds, particularly in the first quarter. For all the white-shirted determination to chase and hustle Russell and cut the supply lines to Scotland’s talented outside backs, the flipside equally applies. Marcus Smith one on one against a charging Van der Merwe? Fin Smith forced to backpedal against the land of his father, Andrew, and mother, Judith? England have 98 fewer caps in their starting XV than the visitors and have won only two of their past eight Tests.
But what if England’s pack properly turn up? Ollie Chessum has quietly become a key cog in Steve Borthwick’s squad and his absences over the past year have been keenly felt. At last he is back starting at lock, intent on disrupting opposition lineout ball and generally making a nuisance of himself. With Tom Curry having started the tournament outstandingly, Tom Willis adding extra ball-carrying heft and the underrated Ted Hill now set to feature off the bench, England are unlikely to go down meekly.
It is also approaching 18 months since Borthwick’s side lost to anybody by a double-figure margin and Scotland, who have rattled up at least 29 points in each of their past two victories against England, will probably need to do so again to avoid a first away loss in this fixture since March 2017. How they must wish Sione Tuipulotu and Graham were also available for what could easily be another tense thriller.
England: M Smith (Harlequins); T Freeman (Northampton), O Lawrence (Bath), H Slade (Exeter), O Sleightholme (Northampton); F Smith (Northampton), A Mitchell (Northampton); E Genge (Bristol), L Cowan-Dickie (Sale), W Stuart (Bath), M Itoje (Saracens, capt), O Chessum (Leicester), T Curry (Sale), B Earl (Saracens), T Willis (Saracens). Replacements: J George (Saracens), F Baxter (Harlequins), J Heyes (Leicester), T Hill (Bath), C Cunningham-South (Harlequins), B Curry (Sale), H Randall (Bristol), E Daly (Saracens).
Scotland: B Kinghorn (Toulouse), K Rowe (Glasgow), H Jones (Glasgow), T Jordan (Glasgow), D Van der Merwe (Edinburgh), F Russell (Bath, co-capt), B White (Toulon); P Schoeman (Edinburgh), D Cherry (Edinburgh), Z Fagerson (Glasgow), J Gray (Bordeaux), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), R Darge (Glasgow, co-capt), J Dempsey (Glasgow). Replacements: E Ashman (Edinburgh), R Sutherland (Glasgow), W Hurd (Leicester), S Skinner (Edinburgh), G Brown (Glasgow), M Fagerson (Glasgow), J Dobie (Glasgow), S McDowall (Glasgow).
England may privately be thinking likewise about Furbank and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso but, with Jamie George set for his 99th England cap off the bench, the 143rd Test between the countries really should produce a narrow home win this time. Lay to rest the toil and trouble of recent Scottish disappointments and their closing fixtures, at home to Italy and away to Wales, will feel even more enticing.
All that remains, then, is for England to shake off their modern Calcutta Cup blues and to start writing their own Shakespearean dramas again. The world’s oldest international fixture always has a defining quality to it, for better or worse. Back in 1955, for instance, a noted Scottish prop, the late Tom Elliot, swore he had scored a triple crown-clinching try at Twickenham only for the referee to be unsighted and England to scrape a 9-6 win. Seventy years later his grandson, the aforementioned Fin Smith, will have a red rose on his chest. Could history be about to come full circle or is this the year England finally turn their Scotch Corner?
