Gregor calls on his side to stop Smith

game to take you on. He is very good at teasing defenders onto him.

‘From our point of view, it’s more about making sure that somebody like Marcus isn’t allowed to settle and to flow with the players around him. Don’t let him get into a rhythm, especially in the first 20 minutes.’

England defence coach Anthony Seibold insists they have a plan in place to protect the Harlequins star. He said: ‘We need to stop the momentum of the Scottish forwards towards him. We need to make sure we have our double-shots, two men at the tackle there, and really work hard to win that first contact.

‘We have to create momentum and find time and space for Marcus to play off the back of. If we can do that, Marcus will have an imprint on the game.’ Seibold admits England will ‘go after’ Russell and believes that, if they stop the world-class ten, they will go a long way towards stopping Scotland.

‘I think it’s a case of making sure we go after Finn Russell,’ he said. ‘Not outside our defensive system but making sure we put some pressure on him. You need to win the collisions, the ruck and the ruck speed to do that. It’s not just what Finn does, it’s what their forwards do to create momentum for Finn and he plays very effectively off the back of that. He is obviously at home and we need to take away that home advantage and make that weapon into a bit of a burden.’

Scotland captain Stuart Hogg is expecting a ‘quality battle’ between Russell and Smith, who he got to know on the Lions tour to South Africa when the young Englishman was called up late as cover for the injured Russell. ‘Marcus is a quality talent and is exactly what Finn was like, just coming fresh onto the scene, full of confidence,’ said Hogg.

‘I’m sure he’s got strategies to overcome things, like not playing at BT Murrayfield before. He’s probably one of those players who thrives on having more people around. We have to make sure we get our defence spot on as he is very, very dangerous.’ Hogg is confident Russell will win the head-to-head despite being targeted by the Auld Enemy. ‘I’m sure England will have a strategy to try and keep him quiet, but I’m sure he’ll find ways in and around that to have a big impact on the game,’ he added.

‘For me to have an opportunity to play outside Finn is absolutely incredible’