Home crowd can work in our favour, insists Wilson

Scotland vice-captain Ryan Wilson is looking to draw on the home support at BT Murrayfield in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash.

England travel to Edinburgh looking to make it three wins out of three in this year’s NatWest 6 Nations, and extend an unbeaten run in their rivalry with Scotland which stretches back to 2008.

The atmosphere at the stadium is something head coach Gregor Townsend hopes the players can use to their advantage, and Wilson is keen to make it an intimidating place to visit.

On Scotland’s home form, the number eight said: “It is something you pride yourselves on.

“It’s your home ground, we talk about it a lot and have to protect this place.

“People come here, we fill it with our fans and we want to make them proud. When it’s on your own soil its a little bit more important, so we are proud of playing at home so the record comes with that.

“You go out and put a little bit more in when you’re at home on your own pitch in front of your own fans.”

He added: “You still go away to these other stadiums looking to go and win, but it’s probably easier when you’ve got your fans behind you and that many fans cheering you on.

“We have a brilliant nation of people coming to support us, and they’re loud and they’re proud when they do support us. That always helps us at home.”

Much of the build-up around Saturday’s game has been dominated by England’s demolition of an in-form Scotland side last year, when they ran in seven tries in a 61-21 thrashing.

But Wilson said: “We’re at home, so it’s a different scenario.

“It has been brought up, we have spoken about it briefly but that was in the past and we are focusing on the now.”