Scotland cannot allow England to hit the ground running in the Calcutta Cup on Saturday. If they let them play as they can do, it could be a very unpleasant afternoon for Scotland.
If England get a bit of a sniff in the first 20 minutes, and score a couple of tries, then the crowd will definitely get behind them and it will be a very hostile and intimidating atmosphere for Scotland.
Let’s not forget, England are a wounded animal and if Scotland struggle at Twickenham then it makes the next game very difficult.
They would then have to regroup and reassess things going into another big match against a Wales side who proved that they could compete at a pretty high level over the autumn.
There have been suggestions Scotland will target England’s Jonny Wilkinson but whoever England picked at fly-half, it represented a challenge for Scotland.
If they had picked Toby Flood, who is very inexperienced, then Scotland would have targeted him because of that lack of experience.
With it being Wilkinson, Scotland have a much clearer idea of how he likes to play. He’s much more of a known quantity – but I’m sure he will be targeted because he will undoubtedly be a little bit rusty.
I would probably have put Wilkinson on the bench and given Flood his chance to prove he’s the best fly-half in England.
It’s quite an experienced and physical side and looks like a bludgeon rather than a rapier.
