6N 2017: England vs Scotland (take 2)

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ENGLAND v SCOTLAND
Saturday 10th March
16:00 GMT
Twickenham Stadium

Live on ITV, RTE, FR2, DMAX

Referee - Matthieu Raynal
AR1 - Romain Poite
AR2 - Marius Mitrea
TMO - Ben Skeen

A. Head to Head

134 Played 134
74 Won 42
18 Drawn 18
42 Lost 74
1,562 Points 1,141

B. Recent Form

6 February 2016
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
9 – 15 to England

14 March 2015
Twickenham, London
25 – 13 to England

8 February 2014
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
0 – 20 to England

2 February 2013
Twickenham, London
38 – 18 to England

4 February 2012
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
6 – 13 to England

C. Teams

ENGLAND


Starting XV:

15. Mike Brown (vice captain, Harlequins, 58 caps), 14. Jack Nowell  (Exeter Chiefs, 21 caps), 13. Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 31 caps), 12. Owen Farrell (vice captain, Saracens, 50 caps), 11. Elliot Daly (Wasps, 11 caps), 10. George Ford (Bath Rugby, 33 caps), 9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 68 caps), 1. Joe Marler (Harlequins, 49 caps), 2. Dylan Hartley (captain, Northampton Saints, 82 caps), 3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 72 caps), 4. Joe Launchbury (Wasps, 40 caps) , 5. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 56 caps), 6. Maro Itoje (Saracens, 10 caps), 7. James Haskell (Wasps, 73 caps) , 8. Nathan Hughes (Wasps, 6 caps).

Finishers

16. Jamie George (Saracens, 15 caps), 17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 40 caps), 18. Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins, 6 caps), 19. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 48 caps), 20. Billy Vunipola (vice captain, Saracens 32 caps), 21. Danny Care (Harlequins, 69 caps), 22. Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors, 6 caps), 23. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 24 caps).

SCOTLAND


Starting XV

15. Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 51 caps; 16 tries, 3 pens, 89 points
14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 34 caps; 15 tries, 75 points
13. Huw Jones (Stormers) – 6 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
12. Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 22 caps; 6 tries, 30 points
11. Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 29 caps; 12 tries, 60 points
10. Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 25 caps; 2 tries, 5 cons, 8 pens, 44 points
9. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps

1. Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 22 caps
2. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 23 caps
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 7 caps
4. Richie Gray (Toulouse) – 63 caps; 3 tries, 15 points
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 31 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
6. John Barclay CAPTAIN (Scarlets) – 58 caps; 4 tries, 20 points
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 8 caps; 1 try, 5 points
8. Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 25 caps

Substitutes:
16. Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 105 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
17. Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby) – 6 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap
19. Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 27 caps; 1 try, 5 points
20. Cornell Du Preez (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped
21. Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps; 4 tries, 3 pens, 29 points
22. Duncan Weir (Edinburgh Rugby) – 25 caps; 2 tries, 7 cons, 10 pens, 1 drop, 57 points
23. Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps; 6 tries, 30 points

Gooseberry wrote:Pretty sure Wilko ended up on the wing in a six nations game against Wales (2008?) May have been the one where James Hook became a big deal ( for a few weeks anyway)

Wilkinson made his England debut from the bench in 1998 coming on as a wing replacement very late in the game. Not sure if he replaced Healey or Catt (interesting group of wingers ) http://en.espn.co.uk/statsguru/rugby/match/23371.html

I do not think he ended up on the wing in the game you mention: http://en.espn.co.uk/statsguru/rugby/story/81291.html

robbo277 wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:Was that also when Tindall nearly died after taking a deliberate knee to the spleen?

Cipriani came on for Tindall, so probably. The midfield was Wilko, Flood and Cipriani to finish. Don't remember all that much of the actual gameplay though, I was very drunk at uni for that one. Just remember the sinking feeling as the injuries piled up.

It was the one with Balshaw at fullback where they blew a huge lead. Wilko chucked a hospital pass to Cipriani which went for a try. Vanilkolo also played, and did nothing. It was pretty horrible.
Hook and Henson showed what could have been when they got into it. If the two of them had been more interested in rugby careers than hair gel and minor personality disorders then Wales may well have had a lot more glory in that era.

LondonTiger wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:Pretty sure Wilko ended up on the wing in a six nations game against Wales (2008?) May have been the one where James Hook became a big deal ( for a few weeks anyway)

Wilkinson made his England debut from the bench in 1998 coming on as a wing replacement very late in the game. Not sure if he replaced Healey or Catt (interesting group of wingers ) http://en.espn.co.uk/statsguru/rugby/match/23371.html

I do not think he ended up on the wing in the game you mention: http://en.espn.co.uk/statsguru/rugby/story/81291.html

I dont think he did end up on the wing in the one I mentioned tbh...but the whole team was a mishmash mess with players out of position all over by half time. Picking 3 fly halves, 2 liabilities and a guy who didnt even know what Union was probably didnt help.

I remember that 2008 game - they lost Moody and then his replacement in short order, and Wales exploited the loss of the back row mercilessly. I think that was probably more material than the shuffles in the backline - Wilkinson always struggled when his forwards couldn't give him enough time on the ball.

People lambast Catt for getting run over by Lomu one on one, but if you watch what he's doing he is keeping Lomu in one channel without showing him the outside and waiting for help that never arrives. Since tackling Lomu one on one wasn't really an option, it was the right thing to do. There's a reason several different England coaches kept picking him...

I watched him very closely in the RWC 2007 Final, where he spent a lot of time standing at fullback, and his positioning and work rate was what was keeping England in touch in the game. When he went off, England's hopes went with him. Mind you, by that point Peter Richards was playing openside, so we were pretty much stuffed anyway.

Poorfour wrote:I remember that 2008 game - they lost Moody and then his replacement in short order, and Wales exploited the loss of the back row mercilessly. I think that was probably more material than the shuffles in the backline - Wilkinson always struggled when his forwards couldn't give him enough time on the ball.

People lambast Catt for getting run over by Lomu one on one, but if you watch what he's doing he is keeping Lomu in one channel without showing him the outside and waiting for help that never arrives. Since tackling Lomu one on one wasn't really an option, it was the right thing to do. There's a reason several different England coaches kept picking him...

I watched him very closely in the RWC 2007 Final, where he spent a lot of time standing at fullback, and his positioning and work rate was what was keeping England in touch in the game. When he went off, England's hopes went with him. Mind you, by that point Peter Richards was playing openside, so we were pretty much stuffed anyway.

When Richards came on at openside, I remember the commentator asking if it was a bold tactic by England to put more backs on the pitch to perhaps "make or break". I've always wondered why rugby teams are so rigidly inflexible with 8 forwards and 7 backs.

For example, if Daly hadn't have gone off England and had been trailing to Scotland, they could have brought off one of the locks for Watson to try to increase the try-scoring threat. You could shove Brown or Te'o (if he was on) into flanker for the scrums, but the gamble would be trying to win enough ball with 7 forwards to utilise the extra back. But if you were chasing tries, why not?