Scots must be ‘calm among chaos’ to beat England

Guinness Men’s Six Nations: England v Scotland

Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Date: Saturday, 22 February Kick-off: 16: 45 GMT

Head coach Gregor Townsend believes that Scotland must be “calm among the chaos” of the Calcutta Cup if they are to defeat England for the fifth time in a row.

Townsend’s side are fourth in the Six Nations table after two rounds of fixtures, one point behind third-placed England, who they face on Saturday.

After winning their opening game against Italy in Murrayfield, the Scots must win to maintain any lofty title hopes, which were defeated by Ireland at Murrayfield 32-18 last time out.

Townsend says his players must strike a balance between Twickenham’s desire for passion and clarity if they are to succeed.

“It’s there before every Test match, and in particular in the Six Nations”, he said.

“In the past, I’d say there was too much emotion and not enough calmness and clarity in what we were doing,” he said.

” I know the passion will be there, the passion will be there to play for your teammates, to play for your country, to show an improved performance from the last game, but we have to be calm amongst the chaos, which there will be at times. “

Townsend has never lost at Twickenham with two victories since the exhilarating 38-38 draw in 2019 and has only lost one of his seven games as head coach against England.

Townsend is unconcerned about the challenge that lies ahead south of the border despite that impressive resume.

One of our hardest games is always Twickenham, and in recent years, we have been able to control the outcome, he said.

Finn Russell, the flyhalf of Scotland, has been declared fit to play on Saturday, but Darcy Graham, the wing, is unharmed.

Both players suffered concussions after colliding during Ireland’s crushing home defeat on February 9th.

Russell passed a head injury assessment after the collision, but national team medics were uneasy about him continuing, while Graham was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Kyle Rowe from Glasgow Warriors replaces Graham, and there are two more changes for the trip to London.

Rory Sutherland and Matt Fagerson both start on the bench, along with loose-head prop Pierre Schoeman and flanker Jamie Ritchie.

Tom English, BBC Sport Scotland’s chief sports writer

In his newspaper column on Thursday, Sir Clive Woodward witty about the Scottish forwards’ lack of power and how England’s ostensible monsters will take them to the cleaners. We shall see.

The Scottish pack should have had enough of this. Ritchie has returned to show his ability to break down. Scotland have been beaten on the floor in this championship and England’s back-row could do it again if Scotland don’t make massive improvements.

On his best days, Ritchie is belligerence personified. One of his better days must be Saturday.

Fagerson’s removal from the back row is not unexpected. He is still not feverish. Not even close. Maybe he’ll find the fire off the bench.

Russell has been at the heart of Scotland’s four consecutive defeats against England, which is a relief given how well he has managed to survive.

He’s not been himself so far in the Six Nations. Time for the genius to reappear.

Graham was always fighting an uphill battle to recover, but Rowe is a stellar replacement. He doesn’t posses the game-breaking wonders of Graham, but he’s a reliable and intelligent footballer.

Given the lack of energy from Ireland’s second-row, some predicted Gregor Brown would start this one. That’s still a worry in this team.

Not enough go-forward men up front. However, Pierre Schoeman’s return does add some ball-carrying grunt.