Can England rain on Scotland’s Six Nations parade? 

Watching England play Wales in the Six Nations the other day, a lacklustre match between two middling sides and distinguished only by lashings of Welsh hwyl as the visitors outperformed their role as underdogs, I remarked to the Irish friend who was with me: ‘The Welsh don’t like the English, do they?’ ‘Get in line,’ my friend replied. Fair point, and the Scots, proud members in the queue and a better team than Wales, will sorely test the idea on Saturday that Steve Borthwick’s newish-look side are any better than their predecessors.

For some time it felt as if England didn’t have to do much more than turn up to the Calcutta Cup to get the win. Scottish victories seemed so rare they even had documentaries made about them, e.g. the magnificent film The Grudge about the famous 1990 Scottish victory, with David Sole’s spine-tingling slow march as he led his team on to the field. The result, which denied England a Grand Slam, was about much more than rugby though, notably Scotland’s detestation of England in general and Margaret Thatcher in particular. 

Now things have changed, not least after that fabulous 38-38 draw at Twickenham when Scotland came back from 31-0 down. England have won only once in their past six meetings. Scotland’s only weakness is they might be too pumped up, as coach Gregor Townsend admits. Still that’s what lone pipers on the Murrayfield roof and ‘Flower of Scotland’ being belted out by a packed stadium after a refreshing lunch can do to you.

Only after the final whistle will we know what strides Borthwick has made with England. Scotland are scarily good, prevented from beating France only by a blade of grass.