These Scots are Finn with a chance

THIS game is a potential banana skin for England and let no one tell you differently. We all know the stats. That England have not lost to Scotland since 2008 and only once to anyone since 2015. We all saw the Scots taken to the cleaners by Wales last month – the same Wales that England beat a fortnight ago. Well, forget all of that because it has no relevance to a stand-alone Calcutta Cup occasion at Murrayfield. Eddie Jones knows this. He has had every opportunity to give Finn Russell, Scotland’s out-of-sorts fly-half, the Rhys Patchell (above, right) treatment. He has gone the other way. Jones’ England are all about the next game, but they need to be mindful of the past. Ben Te’o said this week the history of the fixture was irrelevant to him, that it

is all about his preparation for today’s game.

I know what he meant, but that won’t play well with the Scots and it takes me back to 2000 when I captained an unbeaten England team at Murrayfield with total belief that we would win.

After a pretty straightforward first half for us, an Arctic front came in and we thought we could keep playing the way we had been. We didn’t adapt our strategy. A little bit of complacency crept in and we lost.

This England team hasn’t been in a scenario like that yet, but one day it’s not going to all go their way. To beat these top sides you’ve got to be prepared and able to play mistake-free fast and accurate rugby. Scotland can do that, but it relies on Russell (above, left) creating for his entire back line, not just himself.

He won’t cause England problems with a one-off show-and-go, a chip and catch or a sidestep here and there. Against Eddie’s men, you’ve got to be able to create three or four devastating phases.

If Russell can do that, Scotland are in the ball game. I still take England by nine (and Ireland by three over Wales), but this has the makings of a proper game.