Scotland v England, Murrayfield, Sat 8th Feb, 17:00

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has kept faith with the side which lost to France and named an unchanged line-up for Saturday's match against Scotland.
Gloucester's Jonny May starts on the wing despite breaking his nose nine minutes into the 26-24 loss in Paris.
Courtney Lawes will be in the second row after his cheekbone bruising eased, while Danny Care and Owen Farrell form the half-back partnership.
"They're determined to put last week's result behind them," said Lancaster.
England will be hoping to avoid a third successive Test defeat, having lost to New Zealand in the autumn and France in the opening weekend of the Six Nations.
Scotland, however, were well beaten by Ireland on Sunday have not prevailed in the Calcutta Cup since their 15-9 win at Murrayfield in 2008.
"Scotland will be hugely motivated by their defeat in Dublin and, as we found two years ago, Murrayfield is a tough place to play," added Lancaster, who began his England reign with a 13-6 win against Scotland in 2012.
May is not expected to wear a protective face mask when he wins his third cap in Edinburgh.
Luther Burrell, who scored on his debut at the Stade de France, will make his second Test appearance at centre, while Jack Nowell takes up the right-wing spot for what will also be his second cap.
Wasps prop Matt Mullan will travel as the 24th man.

England XI v Scotland: Mike Brown (Harlequins, 22 caps), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs, 1 cap), Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints, 1 cap), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby, 9 caps), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 2 caps), Owen Farrell (Saracens, 20 caps), Danny Care (Harlequins, 43 caps), Joe Marler (Harlequins, 16 caps), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints, 51 caps), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 44 caps), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps, 15 caps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 26 caps), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 24 caps), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, capt, 21 caps), Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 6 caps)
Replacements: Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 13 caps), Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 11 caps), Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks, 2 caps), Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby, 6 caps), Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 16 caps), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints, 13 caps), Brad Barritt (Saracens, 17 caps), Alex Goode (Saracens, 14 caps)

Manky-Flanker wrote:"Several of the players who did emerge physically unscathed from Sunday will still be receiving bad news. Humphreys said: “There will be some change in the positions that we feel we have strength."

Surely, he's got to be talking about Ford.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Scathing words from forwards coach Humphries in the Scotsman this morning - pulls no punches in saying how bad Scotland's pack were.

Gearing up to be a colossal and brutal game - both teams desperate to make up for last week's results.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Scathing words from forwards coach Humphries in the Scotsman this morning - pulls no punches in saying how bad Scotland's pack were.

Gearing up to be a colossal and brutal game - both teams desperate to make up for last week's results.

David Ferguson in the Scotsman wrote:SCOTLAND have postponed naming their team for Saturday evening’s Calcutta Cup clash with England by 24 hours due to injury worries.


That will not, however, spare a handful of players from the axe after a performance against Ireland labelled “awful” by one of their coaches.

The frustration of Jonathan Humphreys, a former Wales hooker and captain who took over as Scotland forwards coach last summer, was clear yesterday as he faced the media at Murrayfield.

A scheduled training session was cancelled because there were too many players still recovering from injuries suffered in the 28-6 defeat in Dublin. Due to a poor forecast for today the squad will train indoor at Ravenscraig but the announcement of the team to face England in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup match has been put back to tomorrow.

Several of the players who did emerge physically unscathed from Sunday will still be receiving bad news. Humphreys said: “There will be some change in the posiitons that we feel we have strength.

“You can ask me all the questions you want, but the fact is that we were awful [on Sunday] and we’re not hiding away from that. It’s nowhere near the standards that we set ourselves, nowhere near where we want to be and nowhere near where we want to go.

“You can talk about what it’s going to be like against England, but that’s not the point. We don’t need to have high spikes and low troughs the whole time. The standards we set must be constant and the internal motivation must be the driving factor in our performance, not the team we are playing against.

“There is no hiding away from the fact that we were dreadful in every aspect of forward play at the weekend. Every aspect.

“You can talk about honesty, but this is fact. We were awful. And, if you say that we’ll turn around because we’re playing the ‘Auld Enemy’ and we’ll put on a performance, it doesn’t hide the fact that we were still awful.”

Scotland’s lineout was the main problem, costing the team good scoring chances and handing Ireland chances at the other end of the field, but Humphreys also criticised the players’ mindset. He added: “There’s a certain thing called intent. Intent to do things. We certainly lacked the intent to do things.

“I won’t go into the details of what that intent is about, that’s for us, but I’ll keep on reiterating the fact that it’s not about getting a reaction to play against England. It’s too simplistic to say players can’t ‘get up’, or question how passionate they are. It’s about sticking to the principles that you drive on a weekly basis and over the top of that you bring the other stuff, so right now we can’t be talking about the other stuff until we do our core principles correctly.

“Your set-piece functions off principles, for example, and, unless these are constant factors, then you will lose lineouts in key, critical areas.

“We lost three of our first five attacking lineouts through nothing that Ireland did. Nothing. They were nowhere near winning the ball off us. It was our error. The key things that we’re talking about apply right there. We win three, or even two of those lineouts and, all of a sudden, we create more pressure on them.

“You could say we were dreadful in that first half, but we created many opportunities. What we didn’t do was squeeze them with the opportunities that we had at set-piece. That’s what cost us the game.

“Had we gone into half-time 6-3 behind and got that penalty after half-time, all of a sudden you’re in the game and Ireland get tight, because they expect to beat us.

“England will expect to beat us but the game changes when it’s you squeezing the opposition, keeping pressure on the opposition. You release that pressure through your own errors and you allow the opposition into the game, and allow them to create go-forward, and that was what we did. And it wasn’t about anything other than simply sticking to what we needed to do at these lineouts.”

Humphreys made his feelings known to the players on Monday and head coach Scott Johnson sees things similarly. But, asked how much responsibility the coaches took, Humphreys was as strident in his response.

“I’m completely culpable. It’s me. I am culpable for everything [to do with the forwards] that goes on out there, because that’s me. I will never hide away from that fact.

“A coach’s job is to step forward when it doesn’t go right and step back when it does. I will step forward and take complete responsibility for that shambles at the weekend.”

demosthenes wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Scathing words from forwards coach Humphries in the Scotsman this morning - pulls no punches in saying how bad Scotland's pack were.

Gearing up to be a colossal and brutal game - both teams desperate to make up for last week's results.

And does he accept any responsibility for the poor coaching, systems, etc., that have brought what was at least a respected pack down to this level?  Doubt it!

From the Scotsman wrote:Humphreys made his feelings known to the players on Monday and head coach Scott Johnson sees things similarly. But, asked how much responsibility the coaches took, Humphreys was as strident in his response.

“I’m completely culpable. It’s me. I am culpable for everything [to do with the forwards] that goes on out there, because that’s me. I will never hide away from that fact.

“A coach’s job is to step forward when it doesn’t go right and step back when it does. I will step forward and take complete responsibility for that shambles at the weekend.”

EWT Spoons wrote:

demosthenes wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Scathing words from forwards coach Humphries in the Scotsman this morning - pulls no punches in saying how bad Scotland's pack were.

Gearing up to be a colossal and brutal game - both teams desperate to make up for last week's results.

And does he accept any responsibility for the poor coaching, systems, etc., that have brought what was at least a respected pack down to this level?  Doubt it!

He kind of does:

From the Scotsman wrote:Humphreys made his feelings known to the players on Monday and head coach Scott Johnson sees things similarly. But, asked how much responsibility the coaches took, Humphreys was as strident in his response.

“I’m completely culpable. It’s me. I am culpable for everything [to do with the forwards] that goes on out there, because that’s me. I will never hide away from that fact.

“A coach’s job is to step forward when it doesn’t go right and step back when it does. I will step forward and take complete responsibility for that shambles at the weekend.”

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Exactly how many people advocating his public execution didnt 8 months ago demand Fords inclusion as a token Scot in the Lions test side?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Exactly how many people advocating his public execution didnt 8 months ago demand Fords inclusion as a token Scot in the Lions test side?

RDW_Scotland wrote:On KB's captaincy, it annoys me how little Scottish captains talk to refs. Half the Irish team were in regular conversation with the ref throughout the game (despite him telling them not to, and not following up his threats) - our captains hardly get their say in

munkian wrote:It annoys me how OFTEN Irish players talk to the ref, should be Captain only

munkian wrote:It annoys me how OFTEN Irish players talk to the ref, should be Captain only

munkian wrote:It annoys me how OFTEN Irish players talk to the ref, should be Captain only

funnyExiledScot wrote:RDW - that was always going to be an issue with Kelly Brown. He isn't a shouter and a screamer, and he isn't aggressive with the ref. In some respects Laidlaw would make a better captain, purely because he's more forthright and confident with officials.

I thought Ireland were very good with Joubert. They were in his ear for 80 minutes and yet managed to just fall short of annoying him. He warned them a couple of times, but they got the balance about right.

Still, Brown has the respect of the players and to be honest Laidlaw's performance on Sunday wasn't out of the top drawer. This isn't the right time to change captains in my opinion.

beshocked wrote:Scrumpy in your scenario where is Mike Catt? I know you believe that Andy Farrell has all the other coaches under his thumb but ultimately it's Stuart Lancaster's decision.

RDW_Scotland wrote:On KB's captaincy, it annoys me how little Scottish captains talk to refs. Half the Irish team were in regular conversation with the ref throughout the game (despite him telling them not to, and not following up his threats) - our captains hardly get their say in

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

beshocked wrote:Scrumpy in your scenario where is Mike Catt? I know you believe that Andy Farrell has all the other coaches under his thumb but ultimately it's Stuart Lancaster's decision.

MC : "I really dont see what the problem with players who scerw up and gift tries to the opposition is, never did me any harm"

beshocked wrote:Scrumpy in your scenario where is Mike Catt? I know you believe that Andy Farrell has all the other coaches under his thumb but ultimately it's Stuart Lancaster's decision.

nlpnlp wrote:Just what kind of bench do people want England to have?  France had a 6:2 split forwards to backs compared to England's 5:3.  You need to have a scrum half and then??  I assume SL thinks Twelvetrees or Goode are capable as playing at 10.  Twelvetrees has played 10 at club level pretty regularly, including this year and is seen as a second flyhalf in the England team.  For a long time Goode has been talked of as being a flyhalf rather than a fullback.  If we went in with a bench of scrumhalf, Ford and say Eastmond, you would have no fullback or wing cover.

The problem is that you need so many forward replacements now, that you are always going to have to cut corners with your back replacements.  Plus I think the SL / AF thinking is very rugby league based in that anyone can play anywhere if you can catch, pass and tackle.  I don't necessarily agree with this, but don't think having to bring Ford on at fullback or wing is a better proposition than moving Brown or Burrell to the wing.  It is a risk/reward gamble and I can't see Ford making a significantly bigger contribution at flyhalf for say 15 minutes at the end of a match if Farrell goes off, than Twelvetrees or Goode would.  I accept the arguement that it would be good experience for Ford in the long run, but I think just looking at winning the Scotland match it is a gamble/risk worth taking.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Just keep the team exactly the same (assuming May is able to hack it).

The bench however need looking at.

Dickson needs replaced. Hopefully Youngs can regain fitness and form and challenge Care to greater heights.

Im also not happy with Thomas on the bench...not a great prop or going to be in my opinion.

Taffineastbourne wrote:If this foul weather continues the odds of an upset get better and better.A mud bath with a howling wind would be a great leveller.

nlpnlp wrote:Just what kind of bench do people want England to have?  France had a 6:2 split forwards to backs compared to England's 5:3.  You need to have a scrum half and then??  I assume SL thinks Twelvetrees or Goode are capable as playing at 10.  Twelvetrees has played 10 at club level pretty regularly, including this year and is seen as a second flyhalf in the England team.  For a long time Goode has been talked of as being a flyhalf rather than a fullback.  If we went in with a bench of scrumhalf, Ford and say Eastmond, you would have no fullback or wing cover.

The problem is that you need so many forward replacements now, that you are always going to have to cut corners with your back replacements.  Plus I think the SL / AF thinking is very rugby league based in that anyone can play anywhere if you can catch, pass and tackle.  I don't necessarily agree with this, but don't think having to bring Ford on at fullback or wing is a better proposition than moving Brown or Burrell to the wing.  It is a risk/reward gamble and I can't see Ford making a significantly bigger contribution at flyhalf for say 15 minutes at the end of a match if Farrell goes off, than Twelvetrees or Goode would.  I accept the arguement that it would be good experience for Ford in the long run, but I think just looking at winning the Scotland match it is a gamble/risk worth taking.

Taffineastbourne wrote:If this foul weather continues the odds of an upset get better and better.A mud bath with a howling wind would be a great leveller.