Rugby union’s oldest international rivalry resumes in the Six Nations on Saturday with England and Scotland apparently heading in opposite directions.
While England is buoyant after a remarkable 38-21 victory over world champion New Zealand in its last Test, Scottish rugby is in the doldrums after a humiliating loss to Tonga in the autumn internationals dropped the national team to 12th in the world rankings.
Anything other than a big win – and therefore retaining the Calcutta Cup – for the English would be a major surprise as Scotland is without a win at Twickenham in 30 years.
However, the Scots love nothing more than being given the tag of underdogs.
“The reality is, history is someone else’s history,” Scotland’s Australian interim coach Scott Johnson said.
“We are going to create our own history.
“We are a new group on the block and that unknown factor is a good thing for us.”
That was precisely the position England occupied at the start of last year’s Six Nations.
Stuart Lancaster had just taken charge of a national team in disrepute after their embarrassing World Cup campaign in New Zealand, and had decided to blood a number of young, hungry players with a view to the 2015 World Cup.
Performances and results went better than expected, with a second-place finish guaranteeing Lancaster the position of full-time coach and the team not looking back.
The December 1 win over New Zealand, who hadn’t lost in 20 games, was unexpected but merely continued the upward momentum.
“I’d like to think we did deliver a change,” Lancaster said.
“This time last year, I was sat here as interim coach, and on the back of the World Cup we made 15 changes.
“The most important thing for me was to get that culture right.”
That seems to have been ingrained in this England set-up, although it hasn’t stopped the sniping from the Scotland corner.
Comments from former Scotland coach Jim Telfer were strong and will probably be put up in the England changing room before kickoff.
“There’s the makings of a good squad, but it is not good at the moment. Like the English football team, a couple of wins and they think they are world-beaters,” Telfer said.
“They are too arrogant, too pretentious and too condescending to realise they have a problem.”
With two wins from their past 15 Six Nations matches and the home loss to Tonga still hurting, the Scots knew changes were necessary.
Johnson has come in for the beleaguered Andy Robinson as coach and there is a new-look – and very speedy – wing pairing of Dutch-born Tim Visser and New Zealand-born Sean Maitland, who makes his debut.
