Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Trygate’ over as Scots target ‘biggest game’
GREGOR Townsend says Scotland’s sole focus is on winning their “biggest game of the season” against England this weekend and maintaining their recent dominance of the Calcutta Cup.
The Scots go into tomorrow’s showdown with their bitter rivals knowing they will almost certainly require a victory to stay in contention for the Guinness Six Nations title after their controversial defeat by France.
Townsend is adamant that any lingering injustice from “trygate” a fortnight ago has been parked and any talk of contending for the title can remain firmly on the back burner until after their high-stakes encounter with Steve Borthwick’s side.
“When you’re coming in off the back of a defeat, you have to bounce back with a victory,” said Townsend, when asked how the France defeat has left his side’s title prospects.
“You’re not really thinking about the championship.
“The full focus is on this game because it’s our most important game of the season.
“It’s the most important game for our supporters and we also play for a trophy, in amongst the Triple Crown and other trophies.
“But this is the one that we’re always focused on more than the others.
“That probably shouldn’t be the case, but it is.
“It’s history. It’s emotion. We’ve seen the impact this game has on Scottish supporters when we do manage to get a victory in this fixture. That’ll drive us on.”
Having beaten England only three times in 27 attempts between 1990 and 2018, the Scots now find themselves going into this fixture on the back of a three-game winning run and having lost only one of their last six meetings with their old foes.
Townsend has made three changes to the side that started the 20-16 defeat by France, with Glasgow wing Kyle Steyn returning after missing Les Bleus game when his wife went into labour and Toulouse full-back Blair Kinghorn back after sitting out the first two matches with a knee injury.
Kyle Rowe and Harry Paterson, who deputised in the absence of the two experienced backs, drop out of the squad altogether.
The most notable change is in the back row where Edinburgh flanker Jamie Ritchie, who recently lost the captaincy and then was then left out of the 23 for the France game, returns to the number six jersey in place of Matt Fagerson, who is dropped from the squad.