Kickoff: 4:45pm, the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Saturday ITV ONE
Team news
England
1.E.Genge 2.L.Cowan-Dickie 3.W.Stuart 4.M.Itoje(C) 5.O.Chessum
6.T.Curry 7.B.Earl 8.T.Willis 9.A.Mitchell 10.F.Smith
11.O.Sleightholme 12.H.Slade 13.O.Lawrence 14.T.Freeman 15.M.Smith
16.J.George 17.F.Baxter 18.J.Heyes 19.T.Hill
20.C.Cunningham-South 21.B.Curry 22.H.Randall 23.E.Daly
Scotland
1.P.Schoeman 2.D.Cherry 3.Z.Fagerson 4.J.Gray 5.G.Gilchrist
6.J.RItchie 7.R.Darge(CC) 8.J.Dempsey 9.B.White 10.F.Russell(CC)
11.D.van der Merwe 12.T.Jordan 13.H.Jones 14.K.Rowe 15.B.Kinghorn
16.E.Ashman 17.R.Sutherland 18.W.Hurd 19.S.Skinner
20.G.Brown 21.M.Fagerson 22.J.Dobie 23.S.McDowall
Steve Borthwick has opted to continue with the Smiths and a 6-2 split on the bench. One change that was made was Ollie Chessum being promoted to the starting line-up from the bench in place of George Martin who was penciled into the 19 shirt for Saturday. That was until he was injured and has now been replaced by Ted Hill on the bench. Whilst I am excited for the chance to see Ted Hill in an England shirt, this does mean that there will be no recognised lock on the bench. Ted Hill has occasionally played in the second row for Bath this season due to their insane back row depth so perhaps he is simply there as injury cover or to offer another option at the line-out if necessary. Either way, this is a strong England team which has the chance to pick up serious momentum with a win on Saturday.
Scotland had two big questions coming into this game. One had a positive answer and the other did not. After a brutal clash of heads early in their defeat to Ireland, Scotland lost both Darcy Graham and Fin Russell. Graham was knocked out cold and taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion. He is now recovering and is rightly taking the time he needs to before coming back to professional rugby. Fin Russell, on the other hand, passed his HIA(head injury assessment) but was removed from the game as a precaution which was also good to see as it shows a recognition of how serious head injuries can be and that safeguarding players is a big priority for the sport. Russell has been deemed fit to take on England and will start at 10 looking to put in his first big performance of the tournament and torment the English once again. Kyle Row replaces Graham on the bench in a dangerous back three with Blair Kinghorn and the one-man-England-destroying-machine that is Duhan van der Merwe whose exploits are the subject of many an Englishman's nightmares. Scotland have also opted for a 6-2 split on the bench with Dobie and McDowall the only backs.
This game is pivotal for both nations. For England they simply have to win if they are to actually take a step forward. One, one-point win against France is inadequate and if they lose to Scotland, everything will implode once again. The win over France solved nothing, it just gave England two weeks of breathing space coming into this game. The team south of the border have not beaten Scotland since 2020. That's pre-pandemic for reference of how long ago that was. Given Scotland's form, many now feel England are the favourites. Scotland were average against Italy and abysmal against Ireland but South West London has been an unusually happy place for Scotland in recent years. In fact, they haven't lost there since 2017. So, will this year be different or will Scotland continue their dominance?
My Prediction
England 32 vs 29 Scotland
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