Scotland V England - The Calcutta Cup

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Past results

2010	13 March	England	15–15	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	63	39	15
2011	13 March	England	22–17	Twickenham	London	64	39	15
2012	4 February	England	6–13	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	65	39	15
2013	2 February	England	38–18	Twickenham	London	66	39	15
2014	8 February	England	0–20	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	67	39	15
2015	14 March	England	25–13	Twickenham	London	68	39	15
2016	6 February	England	9–15[2]	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	69	39	15
2017	11 March	England	61–21[3]	Twickenham	London	70	39	15
2018	24 February	Scotland	25–13[4]	Murrayfield	Edinburgh	70	40	15
2019	16 March	Scotland	38–38	Twickenham	London	70	40	16

Teams


TBC





Furbank; May, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Heinz; M Vunipola, George, Sinckler, Kruis, Itoje, Ludlam, Underhill, Curry

Replacements: Dunn, Genge, Stuart, Launchbury, Lawes, Earl, Youngs, Devoto

I see this going one of two ways.

It will be error strewn with lots of knock ons and stop start disruptions as both teams struggle to find rhythm. Both are low on confidence even if they're talking themselves up.

It's then a case of whether Scotland can come out on top in a messy, close game that may or may not be high scoring. Mistakes don't mean it will be a 9-6 game for the pursits.

On the other hand, England might kick in to gear at some point and if they string phases together and keep the penalties and knock ons to a minimum then at some point they will thump Scotland.

I think one of those two is how the game will go. Most likely a comfortable England win in all honesty. England's pack won't underperform two games in a row.

guestalt_physicality wrote:

Eejit wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Just read on Twittre that it'll be Farrell's 35th start at centre for England, which is the same number of starts he's had at fly half.

That’s a staggering statistic considering he’s significantly better in one than the other.

Given some of the incendiary comments from Sam Johnson and Lewis Ludlam circulating about ahead of Saturday’s game I want to assure English fans that I don’t hate any of you, unless of course you are Edinburgh fans in which case it’s up in the air.

IMO he was a better centre until around 2015. He's now not big enough or strong enough to play 12 against the very best teams unless Tuilagi is playing but how many meltdowns or underperformances does Farrell have to have for England at 10 until people accept he has his flaws. The Wales game last year is a good place to start.

I personally think Ford is the better 10, better thinker, runner, passer also his goal kicking is a lot better than it used to be

Rugby Fan wrote:Russ Petty stat

England won 15/17 Tests with Ford - Farrell - Joseph starting

https://twitter.com/rpetty80/status/1225359330804977666

Those are the kind o stats that add nothing, illuminate nothing important, but present themselves as important. Pointless. Add no greater understanding for the fans nor predict anything likely to occur again. Just a stat plucked from nowhere to present a trend as somehow profound.

England are on a 2 game losing streak. As are Scotland. Both ended the world cup poorly, in different ways, then failed to follow it up in almost comical circumstances. Jonny May, meet Stuart Hogg.

I don't see lots of togetherness or well thought out coaching from either side. Both teams low on confidence. That's why I expect knock ons.

Where that stat is interesting is that was the combination EJ used when he first came in i.e. when he was most successful. Does he have it in him to motivate another team? He is a very up and down coach. He's doing to Tom Curry what he did to Haskell and Robshaw but with a more longterm view in mind. Other than 15 he's kept the team the same from Japan which is a stark contrast to those 15/17 tests from the statistic. It was a case of using the best of Lancaster, the best of Eddie, and then keeping the same team once he found out who he rated. Now it's different. Townsend's job is tougher again he has to convince everyone in Scotland he's not clueless. Would prefer if stats weren't just presented as profound but maybe the whole point is to spark debate, like this haha.

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:

guestalt_physicality wrote:

Eejit wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Just read on Twittre that it'll be Farrell's 35th start at centre for England, which is the same number of starts he's had at fly half.

That’s a staggering statistic considering he’s significantly better in one than the other.

Given some of the incendiary comments from Sam Johnson and Lewis Ludlam circulating about ahead of Saturday’s game I want to assure English fans that I don’t hate any of you, unless of course you are Edinburgh fans in which case it’s up in the air.

IMO he was a better centre until around 2015. He's now not big enough or strong enough to play 12 against the very best teams unless Tuilagi is playing but how many meltdowns or underperformances does Farrell have to have for England at 10 until people accept he has his flaws. The Wales game last year is a good place to start.

I personally think Ford is the better 10, better thinker, runner, passer also his goal kicking is a lot better than it used to be

I have always agreed. Ford at 10 is the obvious choice for England but Farrell is the leader within the team which makes it hard. I'm not surprised that the best England team since Clive Woodward had Farrell at 12 but it's a nice headache to have deciding who plays ut of Ford or Farrell. Neither is perfect but they're both very good.

RDW wrote:Very windy in Edinburgh and this is only the warmup - I suspect it's going to be so bad that goal kicks will be too much of a lottery.

Hope the teams have been doing plenty mauling practice!

Will likely be a terrible spectacle of a game with kicks and knocks on a plenty.

This whole weekend won’t be a good advert for Six Nations rugby.

Are there plans for Murrayfield to be rebuilt or is that just Edinburgh's ground? If so it would make sense to include a roof.

It’s windy. But it’s run of the mill wind. As in wind we get every second week up here.

Hopefully the forecast is more “daily record” forecast rather than what actually transpires.

I really hope that all this is a result of paranoia from the organisers after the typhoon debacle and the game, and more importantly the public, isn’t impacted by the storm.

guestalt_physicality wrote:Are there plans for Murrayfield to be rebuilt or is that just Edinburgh's ground? If so it would make sense to include a roof.

So england could insist it stays open

Beeb have the wind at 57 mph and 97-98% chance of heavy rain.

Five o'clock is the absolute worst time today with the most chance of heavy rain and the strongest winds.

Duty281 wrote:

RDW wrote:Very windy in Edinburgh and this is only the warmup - I suspect it's going to be so bad that goal kicks will be too much of a lottery.

Hope the teams have been doing plenty mauling practice!

Will likely be a terrible spectacle of a game with kicks and knocks on a plenty.

This whole weekend won’t be a good advert for Six Nations rugby.

Well it'll be a time to be impressed by the power of nature again. Many epics have been epics because of the weather. It's just another actor in the play.

Gooseberry wrote:

guestalt_physicality wrote:Are there plans for Murrayfield to be rebuilt or is that just Edinburgh's ground? If so it would make sense to include a roof.

So england could insist it stays open

Lol good point. But there might be some health and safety reasons for closing it i.e. heavy rain that could be written in to the rules to take that power away from the visiting team. That could apply for situations like today but also it makes it more versatile as a venue for concerts etc.

If a roof needs closing for safety its likely that the game should be called off anyway as safety to and from te ground would be affected.

They could always change the venue, I hear that it is very pleasant around TW1 this time of year

guestalt_physicality wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:

guestalt_physicality wrote:Are there plans for Murrayfield to be rebuilt or is that just Edinburgh's ground? If so it would make sense to include a roof.

So england could insist it stays open

Lol good point. But there might be some health and safety reasons for closing it i.e. heavy rain that could be written in to the rules to take that power away from the visiting team. That could apply for situations like today but also it makes it more versatile as a venue for concerts etc.

To be honest they should just move Scotland 500 miles south. Most of the population would be willing to walk that far.

I can confirm its very, very windy!

Rain not yet coming down but the wind is building up in Edinburgh.

Are you at Murrayfield RDW? It's usually a fairly sheltered stadium in terms of the wind.

Don't mean to be turning into carol Kirkwood but it's turning into pretty awful conditions.

Scotland have a great centre partnership. They’ve missed a trick by not at least having Finn on the bench, he’s a game changer whatever the perspective.

mikey_dragon wrote:Scotland have a great centre partnership. They’ve missed a trick by not at least having Finn on the bench, he’s a game changer whatever the perspective.

Has he sobered up yet?

Did anyone else see the interview with EJ, cringeworthy

Yup. Didn't really see it as cringeworthy bar the fact mclachlan is a really bad interviewer!

Fast forwarded past it ...

This pre-match nonsense really takes the biscuit.

Good to see Doddie is looking well.

BBC is just so out of date, everyone is from yesteryear and with the odd exception have never played modern rugby

Hugs for Maggie

How embarrassing it must be. Like yer mum being at mini rugby not cheering on the team but just you

RDW wrote:I can confirm its very, very windy!

Don’t mention Carol. Jimbo will get excited

Wpi. So true. Inverdale is poor compared with BT presenters and the guys in the studio are set in the past. I do like butler and cotter as commentators though and moore is unparalleled as analyst.

Until Butler tries to speak French, that is comedy

WELL-PAST-IT wrote:Until Butler tries to speak French, that is comedy

Why does he do it?

He doesn’t do Scottish or Irish accents when pronouncing players names. Every time a Frenchman gets mentioned though.

We are two minutes in and Mako looks noticeably behind the pace. Hopefully he works himself into the game. Jones has history for picking guys who are short of match sharpness.

And Mako immediately makes a good strip

great kick by Farrell

Our line outs are dire just now

I’d it time the SRU brought in Ritchie Gray (coach) to get our breakdown work sorted???

Not sure what the lock could have done there

Interesting decision to go for goal given the conditions

as it turned out, wind took it away

Hard choices. Rain and wind so you want to take available points but wind and rain so kicking is hard.

Too many Glasgow fans in Murrayfield tonight. The booing is rotten patter

Do the Scots have a problem being sponsored by BT, genuine question?

not too windy at low level, no one holding the ball

Crikey. Very kind of the ref to go back to the penalty.

These days unless you score they always seem to go back ...

Surely that was plenty of an advantage?

now that hit the wind

They need windscreen wipers on the cameras

Fraser brown. Dodgy darts

Get McInally on

Too many mistakes Scotland

That weather looks awful. This is going to be a real dogfight.