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Tom Hamilton
There was a time when the Calcutta Cup set up residence south of the border.
From 1991 to 2020, Scotland won just four Tests against England. The bragging rights were red-rose tinted. This is a rivalry which dates back to the first match between the two countries in 1871 in Edinburgh, a match Scotland won.
There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then, but Scotland have enjoyed a near-unprecedented spell of recent dominance in the fixture.
It started with their first win at Twickenham in 38 years in 2021, and they made it four from four with a comfortable 30-21 victory at Murrayfield last year.
But there’s a delightful dab of unpredictability about this weekend’s instalment of the Calcutta Cup. England head into this third round fixture with a morale-boosting 26-25 victory over France to their name. Scotland, however, promised much but fell to Ireland 32-18 at Murrayfield a fortnight ago.
The pressure is on both to deliver, but for England, this could well be a pivotal moment in the Steve Borthwick era.
Win, and that France result wasn’t a fluke, but instead part of the process — a vindication of the faith showed in the nascent Fin Smith-Marcus Smith pairing.
Lose, however, and it becomes a familiar recent tale of Scottish stranglehold and renders the triumph in Le Crunch as yet another flash-in-the-pan English victory. So what do England need to do on Saturday to take back the Calcutta Cup?
Get into the right headspace:
The Calcutta Cup has been draped in blue and white ribbons in the past four years. Back in 2021, their win at Twickenham came in front of an empty stadium due to COVID-19 regulations. Scotland celebrated in torrential rain, their shouts echoing around the vast ground.
But it was an exorcism, their first victory at England’s home since 1983. Heads cleared of demons, since then they’ve been dominant, winning 20-17 at Murrayfield in 2022, and then stunning England again 29-23 at Twickenham in 2023 in front of a packed stadium where the home fans could hardly have left their seats with more haste.
Last year’s win in Edinburgh felt unremarkable, so much had the status-quo shifted. So for England, they have to recognise why they have fallen short against Scotland, but also park any residual mental scars given they have beaten Scotland just once in the last seven years.
Courtney Lawes, the ex-England lock, said in his column in The Times that England’s recent record against the “Auld Enemy” was “embarrassing,” adding that his former teammates have to be “desperate” to halt that slide on Saturday.
To get the players in the right headspace, Borthwick has been showing them clips of recent Calcutta Cup horror stories. “This is a team that’s got the wood over us at the moment,” Ben Earl said earlier in the week. “It’s got a big-game feel to it and that, more times than not, has brought the best out of us.
“We’ve watched the last two games we’ve played [against Scotland]; they’re almost unidentifiable in terms of what we’ve been as a team when we’ve been at our best over the last couple of years since Steve has come in. We’re not going to be short of motivation, that’s for sure.”
Stay aggressive and intense:
England’s stats against Scotland haven’t made for happy reading. Borthwick’s side made 24 handling errors at Murrayfield last year and turned the ball over 22 times — hardly ideal.
So the players will take that into the match this week, knowing they can’t afford to make the same number of unenforced mistakes if they are to taste victory.
Borthwick has also addressed their lack of physicality against Scotland last year, and Ollie Chessum is keeping that front of mind ahead of Saturday.
“Steve [Borthwick] mentioned we didn’t hit hard enough or play aggressive enough at Murrayfield [last year],” Chessum told BBC Rugby Union Weekly. “As a group we feel like that game last year was a real turning point for us and how we want to be as a team. So this week is the real test for us to see if we have actually turned that corner.”
England will look to target Scotland’s scrum this weekend, but Borthwick wants accuracy, aggression and above all bravery from all of his team on Saturday. They’ve looked back at the win over France, and Borthwick wants his team to continue playing with the same intensity and intent as they did in that 26-25 victory.
He took heart from how they recovered mid-match from mistakes, and adapted. They’ll need to be precise on Saturday, and he’s trusting Marcus Smith to re-tune his radar from the tee after he sent a couple of wayward kicks against France.
“Last year’s match was a turning point for us. We were not happy with how we played in that game,” Ollie Lawrence said this week. “We have referred to it this week as an example of how we don’t want to play and what we don’t want to look like as a team. And how important it is this week to build on what we’ve done against Ireland and France.
“Hopefully, we can impose our gameplan on to Scotland and not allow them to come to our home turf and impose theirs.”
Muzzle Van de Merwe and Russell:
England will be sick of the sight of tormentors-in-chief Finn Russell and Duhan van der Merwe.
Take Van der Merwe, who has six tries in his last four appearances against England. Some record. That tale of tape includes a hat trick last year, and a double at Twickenham, in 2023.
There were some remarkable scores, like the 60-metre gallop in that last away win, and his second against England last time out as he managed to fold himself into the narrowest gap to score in the corner. England will be on red alert on Saturday.
“He’s got pace and power down that edge and if you give him that space he’ll take it,” Borthwick said of Van der Merwe. “What he’s then got is a big left-foot step to try and find another avenue. Fundamentally denying him that space will be very important. You have to be really on the money defensively across the board.”
And then there’s Finn Russell, one of the world’s best fly-halves. More often than not, he has been among the most prominent thorns in England’s fleshy side, linking up with Van der Merwe but also holding the match on a piece of a string.
He was an injury doubt heading into this match, having sustained a concussion against Ireland, but he has passed his return-to-play protocols and will line up at No. 10 against England where he’ll come face-to-face with his Bath teammate Lawrence.
“Sometimes Finn is in his own world and he can make things happen that not everybody else can see,” Lawrence said of Russell. “One of his strengths is that he can create something out of nothing. He’s a skill player, he’s got a great passing game and a great kicking game.”
1:05
Scotland win three Calcutta Cups in a row
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