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For British & Irish Lions hopefuls, time is running out. Three Test matches left to stake their claim, to catch Andy Farrell’s eye and book a place on the plane. Farrell is due to be at Twickenham on Saturday and he will be analysing everything. As a player that’s precisely where you want to be.
At this stage of the Six Nations, England against Scotland feels all the more pivotal for Lions hopefuls. We can safely say that there will be a large Ireland contingent and, unless something dramatic happens in the coming weeks, a relatively small group of Wales players. That congested middle is full of England and Scotland players and that makes Saturday’s match all the more mouthwatering.
All the way across the field there are head to heads. Fin Smith versus Finn Russell, Ollie Lawrence against Huw Jones, Ellis Genge and Pierre Schoeman, Will Stuart and Zander Fagerson, Rory Darge and Ben Earl, then throw Tom Curry into the mix – the match is littered with those individual battles.
Everyone will feel like they need a standout game at some point in the Six Nations to make Farrell take notice. Smith has had his against France, Sam Prendergast his against Scotland and maybe this will be the match where Russell delivers an overdue performance. He was inconsistent against Italy and unfortunately he was injured early on against Ireland but, somewhat ominously for England, he needs a big game.
My advice to everyone involved is that you have to make it personal. The player up against you, across from you, that player wants to take away your spot on the Lions tour. They think that they are better than you. First and foremost you’re going out there to represent England in the Calcutta Cup but you cannot let that opponent show their worth over you. What you can control is how well you prepare, how well you ultimately play and how well you perform in those head-to-head battles, denying your opponent the opportunity.
For me it was a personal challenge, this person is trying to take away from me what I want the most. We can make rugby really complicated and it might sound inflated but this is a game built on emotions and you need to find the right levers to get yourself into the right place. That’s how I saw it.
My opposite number was Scotland’s Thom Evans. People had been saying in the buildup to the match that he was the fastest lad in Europe. I was fuming all week. It sounds silly and as testosterone-charged men, maybe we need those small, simple triggers, but I had heard that claim about Evans and I was just offended. I could not have it, absolutely not. So you set the record straight and you can only do that with your actions. In 2009, I had some big moments, particularly when chasing Evans down in the corner, getting the better of my opposite man. I also scored a try that day, we managed to win quite convincingly in the end and I genuinely believe that my performance that day got me on the Lions tour of South Africa.
The key is that you cannot allow it to slip into selfishness. The team still has to come first as England seek to reclaim the Calcutta Cup. England will be buoyed by their victory over France. The mood in the camp will have changed significantly and the time off that the players had, the rest week and the buildup to Saturday’s match will have been so much more enjoyable.
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England must start on the front foot, however. France were the protagonists last time out and England were fuelled by their ability to stay in the game but they must bring a greater sense of control to their game. They won’t want to chase things this week and they have to accept that Scotland will have their moments, they have individual talents who will score tries, but they must exert more control.
If we saw in the previous round that Ireland know exactly how to beat Scotland, however, Scotland know exactly how to beat England. They’ve been sensational in recent years, they know that they have a wide running game that hurts England and they have a player in Russell who relishes this occasion. Ben Spencer will have been doing overtime this week, sharing everything he can about Russell, what makes him tick, his triggers, his cues, what he likes, what he doesn’t. There’s an incredible stat that Duhan van der Merwe has scored the most tries against England in Six Nations history with six and second on the list is Jones with five. That says everything about how Scotland can get at England.
I like the look of England’s team, though. It’s settled, they’ve got a foundation to build off and all the focus will be on taking another step forward. Despite their poor record of late in this fixture, the England camp will be more of a positive place this week with Scotland under pressure after flattering to deceive against Ireland. If England can prevail they have an excellent chance of finishing the tournament with four wins from five which supporters would definitely have settled for before the start of the Six Nations. Scotland have it all to do as well though and coming to Twickenham holds no fear for them.
