Calcutta Cup 2012: Three new caps but Scots warned not to underestimate England

England coach Stuart Lancaster has handed international debuts to three players – 20-year-old inside centre Andy Farrell, South Africa-born outside centre Brad Barritt, and 30-year-old No 8 Phil Dowson, with five more uncapped players included among the replacements. The new-look line-up features 10 changes from the side that beat Scotland in the World Cup last October and nine from the quarter-final defeat to France.

Townsend made his debut at Twickenham in 1993, where he came off the bench for an injured Craig Chalmers, and by the time he played his final Calcutta Cup match in 2003, he had been on the winning side only once in that particular fixture.

The former stand-off knows better than most that Scotland sides rarely go into a match with England as favourites, but admits that the Scotland management and the players are under pressure to deliver a victory this weekend.

“We have to win – that’s the bottom line,” he said. “We’re not surprised by the team that Stuart Lancaster picked. It’s the team we guessed and had up on the board for analysis for the past week or so.

“It is inexperienced compared with our team and that can be a factor if we play well enough to magnify the differences and pull them out of their comfort zone. But it’s still all about delivering on the day. There are some very good players in that England team and within the squad there are experienced players in terms of Premiership and European rugby, guys who have played in a lot of big, high-pressure matches, who I don’t expect to be fazed coming to Murrayfield. International rugby is different, especially with the crowds we get at Murrayfield and the noise they generate, but we have to concentrate on ourselves and getting our game to a level that is too good for them.

“We’ve been pretty clear that it is time to deliver. We have beaten Australia and South Africa at Murrayfield and Ireland and Argentina away, and come closer to winning most games in the last couple of years, but the last two Six Nations have been very disappointing [two wins in ten games], so we have to show now that we can win.

“I think it’s great to start with England. It is the most anticipated game of the championship, and you add in the memory of the Auckland game in the World Cup, and how we were three minutes away from winning that one, and there is even more anticipation. But we start level again and the Six Nations is all about momentum, so it’s vital that we start well and build.”

Chasing the tries that would have turned “valiant defeats” into victories – Scotland have the poorest try total in the tournament over the past five years – Robinson, Townsend and defence coach Graham Steadman have had to re-jig their planned attack for this week.

Ruaridh Jackson dropped out due to the hamstring injury he picked up just four minutes into the World Cup match with England still lingering, Joe Ansbro suffered a back injury at the start of January playing for London Irish and Simon Danielli has struggled for game time at Ulster so plays with the ‘A’ team. But Townsend remains confident that Scotland have an attack capable of shutting England out and finding and exploiting gaps.

“We were disappointed to pick up injuries leading into the tournament, but every team has that. Ruaridh has been back in full training this week and kicking and we hope he’ll be able to play for Glasgow next Thursday [home to Scarlets] and the week after [away to Connacht]. If he comes through those games, and shows good form, he will be in contention for the French game.

“But, we have a lot of confidence in Dan [Parks]. It’s never black-and-white with players. Dan is famed for his kicking game, which is a great strength, but he has played excellent attacking games for us as well. In the first Test in Argentina two years ago we played some of the best attacking rugby I thought we had for years and won, and Dan was at the heart of that.

“You need a whole team to create an effective attack, forwards and backs. I’m excited to see Lee Jones in there, and Dave Denton and Ross Rennie making their first Six Nations starts, and we want to see them continue what they have been doing with Edinburgh.

“We’re confident we’ve got a good balance of strong ball-carriers and more evasive runners who will be difficult targets for the opposition to take down. It’s now about the players bringing out those strengths and those of the guys around them.”

Townsend spoke at length in December with Scott Johnson, the Australian coach joining Scotland this summer, particularly about English and Welsh players, and so has extra insight there. He and Robinson have also benefited from discussions with the man who was to lead Scotland, Kelly Brown, before injury struck.

“Scott was good to speak to and I’m looking forward to him joining the management later this year,” said Townsend, “and Kelly obviously knows the Saracens players well and how Andy Farrell coaches. With Andy coaching England and the fact that they have picked the Saracens midfield makes Kelly’s insight helpful.

“It has been really tough for Kelly suffering the injury, especially just days after being handed the captaincy, but he has a great, positive attitude, he came through his operation yesterday very well and he is joining the boys tonight which will be a boost for everyone.”

Townsend added: “I love the England game, and it is still the one game that has me wanting to swap with one of the players. The atmosphere at Murrayfield will be fantastic and I feel the same ahead of this weekend as I did as a player: very honoured to be part of the occasion, and part of the Scotland set-up, but with everything focused on beating England.

“It’s up to the players now.”