Cool heads can kick England into touch

Townsend shrugs off jibes from counterpart Jones as he plots win in the big one

Gregor Townsend doesn’t mind the “war” cries coming out of the England camp but stressed the importance of not letting the occasion of the Calcutta Cup go to his players’ heads.

The barbs from Eddie Jones and the English camp have been coming thick and fast this week in the build-up to their biennial Six Nations visit to Murrayfield, Jones’ latest yesterday claiming Scotland were “one of teams that likes to kick most” in world rugby.

Which had the Scotland squad splurting their morning coffees in surprise, as Scotland were fourth in the listing of average kicks per game in 2019, and the leaders were…england, at 29 per game.

Still, Townsend has no issues with Jones or even the discussions of “hate” and “war” coming out of the visitors’ camp.

“They’re part of the fun and spice,” said the head coach.

“Players are getting motivated to play a game but they’re all really good friends nowadays in international rugby.

“We are always motivated because it is our biggest rival. It is a game which means so much to our people.

“I remember back in 2000 when we had lost four games in a row in the Six Nations and we won our last game against England. You almost felt the supporters believed we had won four games in a row because the joy they get seeing their team win against England stays with them for weeks and months.”

That’s for the supporters and the people, he added, but cooler heads are required on the pitch, something he didn’t do much in his own career.

“I used to get too pumped up and that carried on a little bit throughout my career,” he said. “I remember going to Twickenham and being far too motivated for the game.

“It’s important our players are ready for the physical battle but are in control; of their discipline first of all but, if they have that fire inside of them and they put it into tackles then, great, that’s what you want to see.

“Last year, the first action of the game, Sam Johnson flew up wanting to make a big hit and said afterwards that he was just so pumped up to tackle someone. But they scored as a result and you can’t do that against top teams.

“You have to stay within the system, you have to transfer what you’ve worked on during the week onto the pitch, but you’ve got to have the fire in there to hit hard when you do hit.”

There could be some parallels with that famous game in 2000, with a storm coming in for game time with 40mph winds and rain promised.

Townsend thinks England have picked a team – with five changes – to play in such conditions.

“England picked a six forwards-two backs bench this morning. That was a surprise to us and suggests they’ll want to play it tight,” he said.

“The wind tends not to be a huge factor at BT Murrayfield, but it’s now looking like it’ll be wet and windy around kick-off time and, of course, it’ll be a factor in how we play.

“England kick the ball a lot and I don’t think they’ll kick it less because the weather is poor. They’ll kick it more and we’ll have to deal with that. We have to make smart decisions if we are receiving ball in our half.”

England’s back row of three

open-sides – in stark contrast to their last visit in 2018 when they picked none – also suggests they’ll target Scotland’s breakdown, which was a significant bad area for them in last week’s defeat in Dublin.

Scotland’s only change has this in mind, with Magnus Bradbury returning at No 8 after missing last week with a thigh strain, and Nick Haining going to the bench.

“Magnus brings ball-carrying, he brings a physical presence in all the contact areas, that’s clearing contact as well,” said Townsend.

“I thought his performance at Twickenham last year as a No 8 – the first time he’d played there for us – was outstanding; great carries off the base of the scrum and restarts, and a great run-in for a try too.

“He was maybe 50-50 at the weekend and we knew it would have been a risky one if we played him.”

Simon Berghan, an 11th hour scratch from the bench last week because of illness, returns for WP Nel.

Meanwhile Edinburgh full-back Kinghorn is confident Townsend’s men have the firepower required to blow England’s doors open.

He said: “I fully believe we have all the creativity we need. The review after the Ireland game was good. We did some really positive things on Saturday but we know games like that we need to win.

“Losing is not fun at all. We had chances to win but we gave away too many penalties and turnover ball at crucial points. It’s something we’ve looked pretty hard at but it’ s never nice to lose, especially when we had not won over there for 10 years, so it was a big opportunity.

“Every time you come back from a loss you come in, look at the footage and try to bounce onto the next game – and there is no better one than England at home.

“Everyone is looking to get stuck in. We were frustrated after the game but it’s one of those things.

“It’s a quick turnaround, so we’ve only got time to look at the things we can improve and then move on.

“It would mean everything to win on Saturday. It’s a massive game at home and we want to retain the Calcutta Cup and the points for the table.”

Pictures: Sns/shutterstock. Head coach Gregor Townsend, top, was in great spirits when announcing his team to face England tomorrow – and it included a recall for Magnus Bradbury, above.