Six Nations: 'Hate' has gone out of Calcutta Cup, says England coach Martin Johnson

Published on Saturday 12 March 2011 18:33

MARTIN Johnson claimed yesterday that some of the fire had gone out of the Calcutta Cup, a fixture which used to be fuelled by "genuine hatred", according to the England manager.

Speaking ahead of this afternoon's renewal at Twickenham, Johnson referred back to Scotland's famous win in the 1990 Grand Slam decider and his own experiences as a player, occasions in which enmity on the pitch raised the temperature to boiling point. While Johnson expects today's match to be a "battle", he insists the rivalry is not what it was.

"People anticipate a big Calcutta Cup game," said the England boss. "They are always a fight and a battle. The intensity of the game is what it is all about. England teams have that history with Scotland and, when I was involved, it was an edgy game. There was genuine hatred between the players, genuine dislike. It is nothing like it was then. That is why they call them the good old days!

"In that 1990 game England went for the Grand Slam and got beaten. There was a real edge there but the world has changed a little bit. That went away at the end of the decade when they weren't quite so competitive, but it is a classic game, a big tussle. When the players get out there tomorrow they will be into it, there is no doubt about it. Tomorrow we have to earn everything we get."

Andy Robinson was having none of it, however, and rebutted his opposite number's claims. Rather than insisting that the sporting encounter was less antagonistic these days, the Scotland coach said it never had been and harked back to his own playing days with Bath and England.

"I played against Scotland in 1989," Robinson pointed out, "and there were two of three Bath players in the Scotland team so I don't think it was ever fuelled by hatred. Look at the team today, you've got Rory Lawson, Kelly Brown and Joe Ansbro, these guys are playing for English clubs so I don't see a real hatred there at all."

Six Nations coverage in full

• 'Hate' has gone out of Calcutta Cup, says England coach Martin Johnson

• Scotland need to rediscover their 'mongrel' fury to avoid being crushed by England

• Records 'there to be broken', says Rory Lawson

• Tom English: 'English jibes must represent an effrontery to the proud Scots'

• Chris Ashton once feared his switch to union was a mistake. His try record proves otherwise

• Sound of silence will be a result for Scotland at England's fortress

• Calcutta cup head to heads

• Italy 22 - 21 France: Nick Mallett's finest hour

• Wales 19 - 13 Ireland: Irish fury over winning try fails to dampen Welsh joy

• Women's Six Nations: Ruth Slaven eager to tackle the English

Robinson insisted that it was going to be a "cracking game" but he warned his team that they had to cut out the errors and, especially, avoid conceding an early try, something that has occurred in seven of Scotland's last nine Test matches.

"We have to be able to put England under pressure and control the scoreboard. In all the games since 2000 here Scotland have put England under pressure but England have controlled the scoreboard and pulled away in that last 20 minutes."

"It's about not conceding soft scores," added Robinson. "And, if you look at the championship so far, that's what we've done. We have to make that major improvement and I think we can do that and put England under some pressure."

Scotland trained for today's match in the less than salubrious surroundings of Staines Rugby Club rather than Twickenham.Before anyone made an issue of a perceived snub Robinson was quick to point out that they had only done so because the Scots wanted to train in the morning and the RFU had set aside an afternoon slot for them at Twickenham. Ruaridh Jackson and Chris Paterson took advantage of this to practise their goal kicking at the stadium later in the day.

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