Scotland have lost only two of the last eight clashes with England but Borthwick’s squad are unscarred by failure
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n one of sport’s weirder coincidences, England are about to play must-win games against Scotland in both rugby and cricket on the same day. The forecast 3C temperatures for the Calcutta Cup encounter may be cooler than in Kolkata – appropriately the venue for the T20 World Cup group fixture – but a white-hot contest inside a chilly Murrayfield can be absolutely guaranteed.
Because this particular collision, the 144th since the sides first met at Raeburn Place in 1871, looks set to shape the Six Nations prospects of all involved. To say Scotland are under additional pressure following their defeat by Italy in round one is to state the obvious. And England, too, will take the field knowing the time has come to demonstrate whether or not they are the real deal.
With 12 successive Test wins already banked, that might feel like a superfluous aspiration. But there is a difference between playing and winning at home and going away to places like Murrayfield on weekends like this. Particularly when there is a real crackle of expectancy in the malty Edinburgh air. English presumption has been exposed in the north before and history hangs heavier over this fixture than any other.
