Twickenham has never been a happy hunting ground for Scotland. The last victory at HQ was way back in 1983.
The closest Scotland have got to winning there since then was in 1989 when the two sides drew 12-12 in a scrappy match but in one where Scotland out-thought England.
Vern Cotter’s team will travel to London hoping to put the memories of the nightmare loss to Italy well behind them but they will be greeted by an English side also reeling from their own defeat in Dublin.
England will be just as determined to get back to their winning ways in front of their home crowd their loss has made Scotland’s task just that little bit harder.
And so if Scotland are to
stand a chance, they will have to out-think England again something that isn’t always easy in the modern game.
What’s more, Scotland will have to cut out all of their indiscipline and lapses of concentration which have cost them dearly in this year’s campaign.
After all, they have had enough of the game in all three matches so far to win them all, yet here we are once again, propping up the bottom of the RBS 6 Nations Championship table. Performances may have improved, but it’s winning that really counts.
In many respects, England will not be dissimilar in approach to Italy. They have a solid, dominant scrum and lineout and are very physical at the breakdown.
Their defence is well organised and they have some dangerous attacking players wider out something that Italy were short of.
Yet Ireland took them on head on and outplayed the English at the breakdown, forcing errors and making them pay through their own indiscipline.
I would like to see Scotland play more off Alex Dunbar in the centre and look to off-load more, changing angles of attack to ask questions of the English defence.
I’d also like to see Scotland increase and if possible, dictate the pace of the game captain Greig Laidlaw has to take a lead here. A game plan of ‘controlled chaos’ always tends to work well against England but to do so will require a massive effort from the eight forwards.
Cotter will have to encourage his players to find another level of performance for this.
It’s a real test of character and one which I fear may prove a step too far for his young charges.
I hope I’m proved wrong.
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