Scotland's Everest, but just another game for England – Andy Goode
A lot of people are talking up Scotland’s chances of beating England this year and it might well be their best opportunity for a while but it’s been 10 years since it happened and I’m expecting another England victory on Saturday.
Scotland are going to bring real passion and energy and will try to play at a pace they think England won’t be able to cope with but, seeing how this England team have trained up close, they can cope with anything Scotland throw at them and have that extra bit of experience that is key in international rugby as well.
I played in a couple of Calcutta Cup clashes and won both of them, so have happy memories of it as a contest, but have seen the animosity that can be shown by fans north of the border as well.
I remember once landing up in Edinburgh on a Thursday and having stones thrown at the England team bus on the way out of the airport and even having one bloke, who was completely inebriated, pull his pants down and moon at us from a bus stop.
Some Scots really do detest the English, mainly for historical reasons I think, but it tends to be a one-way street from what I’ve seen and we don’t really reciprocate that hatred. From a rugby perspective, it’s generally just another game for England and Wales is a more intense rugby rivalry for me.
This is the one that Scotland really raise their game for though. This is their Everest and I’ve no doubt they’ll step up emotionally and physically to a level they’ve not reached for a while.
People still talk about when they beat us up at Murrayfield with the Grand Slam on the line back in 2000 in Sir Clive Woodward’s era but that was 18 years ago. Most of this England squad were still in primary school then and Marcus Smith had only just had his first birthday!
Scotland have been playing really well at Murrayfield recently and have won eight of their last nine Tests there but none of those have been against England. In fact, they haven’t beaten England for a decade since 2008.
So, Joe Marler is exactly right when he said this week that “Scotland talk Murrayfield up as a hostile and tough place to go but it is just another place to go and play rugby”. England haven’t lost on their last four visits there and there’s no fear factor at all within this squad in terms of going to Edinburgh.
In terms of the match itself, managing the game under pressure will be key and Finn Russell has proved to be a bit of a loose cannon at fly half recently. He’s either the best player on the pitch or the worst. There isn’t much in between and unfortunately for him it’s been the worst in the opening couple of rounds of the tournament.
England will target him in the same way they did Rhys Patchell in the Wales game as he has a similar ability to cut defences open. They both have a mercurial quality but you can get at them if you close the space down, slow the axis down between nine and ten and put a lot of pressure on them.
As a fly half, if that’s happening, you do have to vary your depth to give yourself more time. If you continue to try to take on the gain line every time rather than shifting the point of contact, then you’re in trouble.
He’s up against Owen Farrell this weekend, who might be playing inside centre but is in charge of managing the game for England. He understands the need for that variation and they don’t come much more consistent in international rugby than him.
A lot of it is experience and Farrell has almost double the number of caps that Russell does, as well as having a really good relationship with George Ford alongside him, so it’ll be a big challenge for Russell to combat that.
Greig Laidlaw’s goal-kicking was world class on his return to the side against France and he was given the man of the match award but I don’t think he did anything outstanding and picking him almost goes against all of the principles that Gregor Townsend has as a coach because of the tempo he wants from his teams.
Russell’s form means Laidlaw’s inclusion is essential to bring some control but they will lose a bit of pace as a result and it does affect the way they play.
England didn’t set the world alight in attack against Wales, far from it, but they did score 61 points against Scotland last year. People talk about Scotland’s threats in attack but I still think England pose the greater threat on balance.
They will want to impose their attacking game on Scotland and have the weapons to do so but games are normally won and lost up front and they will feel that having 50 scrums against Georgia last week will give them the edge in the set piece against a Scotland scrum that is underpowered because of injuries.
England haven’t played that well this season but they have won 24 out of 25 Tests under Eddie Jones. The top teams win when they’re playing ugly and then rip teams to pieces when it all clicks.
It remains to be seen whether it all falls into place against Scotland or whether that doesn’t happen until France, Ireland or South Africa in the summer but they have the tools to win however the game pans out and I think it’ll be a 15-point margin of victory for England on Saturday.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
129 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
129 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
129 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
129 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
129 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
129 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
129 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
129 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
129 Go to commentsHo hum.
129 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
129 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
129 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
129 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
129 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
129 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
129 Go to comments