SCOTLAND v ENGLAND: 6 Nations and Calcutta Cup

14.03.2015

The Calcutta Cup. Image thanks to rugbynetwork.net

Venue: Twickenham

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Preview
Just when both these teams looked to be humming along nicely they both stumbled at a hurdle in the previous round of the 6 Nations Championship. England were battered by a better side in Dublin and Scotland played the game to forget in losing to Italy.

England lost against Ireland due to lack of experience and so many penalties, all under pressure. Today they will need to lift their game and get their World Cup plans back on track.

Scotland have three losses from three games. They desperately need to win today otherwise that wooden spoon is getting closer.

Last Five Encounters
08.02.2014 England 20-0 at Murrayfield (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
02.02.2013 England 38-18 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
04.02.2012 England 13-6 at Murrayfield (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
01.10.2011 England 16-12 in Auckland (World Cup, Pool B)
13.03.2011 England 22-16 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)

Scotland last defeated England in 2008 when they won 15-9 at Murrayfield. They last won at Twickenham way back 1983 when they won 22-12 and the then 5 Nations Championship.

Scotland Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
28.02.2015 v Italy L 19-22 at Murrayfield (6 Nations)
14.02.2015 v Wales L 23-26 at Murrayfield (6 Nations)
07.02.2015 v France L 8-15 in Paris (6 Nations)
22.11.2014 v Tonga W 37-12 at Kilmarnock
15.11.2014 v New Zealand L 16-24 at Murrayfield

England Last Five P 5, W 3, L 2
01.03.2015 v Ireland L 9-19 in Dublin (6 Nations)
14.02.2015 v Italy W 47-17 at Twickenham (6 Nations)
06.02.2015 v Wales W 21-16 in Cardiff (6 Nations)
22.11.2014 v Samoa W 28-9 at Twickenham
15.11.2014 v South Africa L 28-31 at Twickenham

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table: England 2nd, Scotland 6th
Europe Table: England 2nd, Scotland 6th

World Rugby Ranking Points
England 85.11, Scotland 75.22

Prediction: England by 21 points.

TEAMS

England
15 Michael Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Benjamin Youngs, 8 William Vunipola,
7 Chris Robshaw,Capt, 6 James Haskell, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 David Attwood, 3 Daniel Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joseph Marler.
Replacements
16 Thomas Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Kieran Brookes,
19 Geoffrey Parling, 20 Thomas Wood, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Daniel Cipriani, 23 William Twelvetrees

Head Coach: Stuart Lancaster

Scotland
15 Stuart Hogg, 14 DouglasFife, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matthew Scott,
11 Thomas Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 David Denton, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Robert Harley, 5 Jonathan Gray, 4 James Hamilton, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements
16 Fraser Brown, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Geoffrey Cross, 19 Timothy Swinson,
20 John Beattie, 21 Adam Ashe, 22 Samuel Hidalgo-Clyne, 23 Greig Tonks.

Head Coach: Vern Cotter

TEST RUGBY THIS WEEKEND; 14-15 March

14.03.2015
Ireland v Wales in Cardiff (6 Nations)
Scotland v England at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
Russia v Georgia in Tbilisi (REC 1A)
Spain v Portugal in Lisbon (REC 1A)
Romania v Germany in Heidelberg (REC 1A)
Moldova v Belgium in Brussels (REC 1B)
Ivory Coast v Senegal in Toulouse (Friendly)

15.03.2015
France v Italy in Rome (6 Nations; Garibaldi Cup)

Briefly
The 6 Nations International Championship heads into the fourth round this weekend. Ireland head to Wales in what could decide the competition winner. Ireland needs to win to keep their ‘Grand Slam’ intentions alive.

Scotland travels to Twickenham to face England in the traditional Calcutta match. Both sides lost two weekends ago but Scotland’s performance against Italy was woeful. Expect a big lift from the Scots for this one.

Sunday’s France v Italy clash in Rome has a mouth watering prospect of a possible Italian win. Playing at home lifts the Italians and after defeating Scotland two weeks ago they are on a high. France has lost to Ireland and Wales and are struggling.

The Rugby Europe Championship continues with the Russia-Georgia clash being top of the bill. Georgia hasn’t set the world on fire in their last two encounters whilst Russia has defeated Germany and Romania to lift their performances. These two nations actually fought a war only a few years ago. The Russians can expect a ‘warm’ reception in Tbilisi.

The Spain-Portugal clash looks even but Spain has been playing the better rugby lately but Portugal has got the home advantage.

Romania should have too much strength for a struggling Germany.

Moldova travelled to Amsterdam two weeks ago with a weakened squad and lost. They do not travel well. If they lose to Belgium this weekend their hopes for promotion to the elite level of European rugby will take a dive yet again.

In a friendly encounter in France Senegal faces their African cousins the Ivory Coast. I’d expect all players to be France-based. Both these African nations will contest the African Cup Division 1B in early July.

TEST RUGBY THIS WEEKEND: 8-9 February

08.02.2014
Wales v Ireland in Dublin (6 Nations International Championship)
England v Scotland at Murrayfield (Calcutta Cup; 6 Nations Int. Championship)
Romania v Russia in Krasnodar (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)
Georgia v Portugal in Lisbon (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)
Belgium v Spain in Madrid (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)

09.02.2014
Italy v France in Paris (Garibaldi Trophy; 6 Nations International Championship)

Briefly
The feature test match this weekend is that between Wales and Ireland. Both won their opening round matches last weekend. Ireland were convincing against Scotland whilst Wales, although struggled against Italy, won and kept alive the hope of yet another 6 Nations title.

In the other 6 nations matches England and Scotland tussle for the Calcutta Cup, always a special game despite Scotland’s poor showing so far this season. For this game Scotland always rises to the occasion especially when it is at Murrayfield.

France and Italy clash in Paris on Sunday. The French will out for revenge against a side who defeated them last year.

Belgium and Spain clash in what is seen as the relegation decider for the 2012-14 ENC 1A competition. Romania and Russia clash at the other end of the points table. This contest could well decide which team gets the second place in the competition and an automatic place in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with third place having the battle in the repechage playoffs. Georgia and Portugal go head-to-head in the other game.

RUGBY TEST RESULTS: Saturday 2 February

02.02.2013
Ireland 30, Wales 22 in Cardiff (6 Nations International Championship)
England 38, Scotland 18 at Twickenham (Calcutta Cup; 6 Nations Int. Champ.)
Romania 19, Portugal 13 in Lisbon (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)
Russia 13, Spain 9 in Sochi (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)
Georgia 17, Belgium 13 in Brussels (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)

Briefly
Ireland defeated Wales in Cardiff in what has been described as a classic test rugby match. Ireland dominated the first half and enough of the second to build up a 30-3 lead. Wales turned their game around and clawed their way back only for Ireland to hold out in the end. Excellent game from the veteran Brian O’Driscoll for Ireland.

It’s that man again. ‘Evergreen’ is a term that comes to mind.
Image thanks to dailymail.co.uk

England were too good fro Scotland and carried on from where they left off against New Zealand in December. Scotland’s errors and penalties conceded killed the day for them.

No holding England back.
Image thanks to thetimes.co.uk

In a bad tempered match Georgia edged passed Belgium in Brussels. A fight to start the game was not a good sign. The result was a player from each side was red-carded.

Unpleasantness in the Georgia-Belgium test match
Image thanks to youtube.com

Belgium had much the better of the first half and led 13-3 at the break. Georgia put pressure on the home side in the second half and that soon told.

Georgia would not be happy with their performance. It looked to be a fairly disjointed unimaginative display. Belgium on the other hand played with spirit and enterprise and will only improve. They could be a headache for the other teams.

In other ENC 1A games Romania struggled passed a lively Portugal whilst Russia did enough to defeat Spain.

TEST RUGBY RESULTS: Saturday 13 March

13.03.2010
Ireland 27, Wales 12 in Dublin (6 Nations)
England 15, Scotland 15 at Murrayfield (6 Nations;Calcutta Cup-Retained by England)
Romania 22, Georgia 10 in Bucharest(WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1; Antim Cup-Won by Romania)
Portugal 33, Spain 15 in Madrid (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1)
Russia 48, Germany 11 in Sochi (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1)
Greece 17, Luxembourg 9 in Athens (ENC 3C)

6 NATIONS TEST RUGBY: Calcutta Cup

13.03.2010
England v Scotland at Murrayfield (6 Nations)

Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Preview
One of the feature matches in the 6 Nations International rugby championship is the Calcutta Cup match between England and Scotland. This always a ding-dong of a match with style far less important than winning. England has found winning at Murrayfield lately a difficult task whilst Scotland sharpen the knives and the wooden pikes as soon as the rose on white jersey appears over the border.

England have been...well...just a little boring and predictible. They have also been unlucky in their results which on paper has not been too bad. But the fans and the media are, as per usual, losing patience with their boys in white. It's probably too close the thre Rugby World Cup finals to change coach but Johnson's position remains uncomfortable.

Scotland have been up to their usual tricks. They lost to Italy two weeks ago, a painful loss indeed. But here we have another team that has lost out on paper and in luck. A few vital moments lost against all teams and you end up with a loss. Scotland appear on the right path and could well upset England if the later just plod along. It will be a most interesting match.

Last Five Encounters
21.03.2009 England 26-12 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
08.03.2008 Scotland 15-9 at Murrayfield (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
07.02.2007 England 42-20 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
25.02.2006 Scotland 18-12 at Murrayfield (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
19.03.2005 England 43-22 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)

England last defeated Scotland at Murrayfield in 2004. Of recent England has struggled to win at Murrayfield, whilst Scotland has struggled at Twickenham.

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Scotland 7th, England 9th
Europe Table-England 2nd, Scotland 6th

Prediction: Scotland to pip the Poms. Scotland by 2 points.

Teams

Scotland
15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Nicholas De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Max Evans, 10 Daniel Parks, 9 Christopher Cusiter, Capt.8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alistair Kellock, 4 James Hamilton, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements
16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoffrey Cross, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Alan MacDonald, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Philip Godman, 22 Simon Danielli
Head Coach: Andy Robinson

England
15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Daniel Care, 8 Nicholas Easter, 7 Joseph Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Steven Borthwick, Capt. 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Daniel Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Timothy Payne.
Replacements:
16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 Lewis Moody, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Ben Foden
Head Coach: Martin Johnson