England are back in action on Saturday and should be full of confidence following victory over France.
However, Scotland have won the last four Calcutta Cup matches and will be desperate to get their campaign back on track after a humbling defeat at the hands of Ireland last time out.
Telegraph Sport’s rugby experts predict how the encounter will play out. Vote for your winner at the bottom and have your say in the comments section.
England 27 Scotland 17
France may still be wondering how they lost to England, but the impact of the victory is of huge significance to Steve Borthwick’s side. There has been an extra spring in their step this week and a massive motivation to end Scotland’s remarkable run of four Calcutta Cup victories. With both sides putting an emphasis on attack, we should be in for a cracker, but I expect England’s defence and forward power to be the difference.
England 32 Scotland 17
Scotland’s home defeat by Ireland followed such a grimly familiar pattern, with pre-match anticipation giving way to a stark reality check at the gulf in class, that I would struggle to envisage a dramatic change of gear at Twickenham – especially in Sione Tuipulotu’s absence. There is a temptation to ascribe England’s last-gasp victory a fortnight ago purely to Gallic wastefulness, but the breakout performance by Fin Smith suggests that England are finally turning a corner. After so many close Tests for England – their average result margin in 2024 was just 4.1 points – I expect a Fin-propelled attack to lay a platform for a convincing victory this time.
England 28 Scotland 26
Based on their performances in the first two rounds, England should be comfortable favourites, especially at home. Yet Scotland’s recent run of four successive victories will weigh as heavily as King Kong on England’s back. My previous confidence in the power of England’s bench to bring it home has taken a fair blow since the withdrawal of George Martin so I am going for another late nail-biter.
England 30 Scotland 26
Please do not take this to the bank, despite my lucky strike for the France match... or at least do so responsibly. Weather forecasts suggest that any drizzle on Saturday morning will give way to dry conditions, so we should get a fast game. And with two six-two bench splits, the sides will be able to maintain a fast pace. Injuries to Tuipulotu and Scott Cummings, two excellent players, make it nigh on imperative for England to end their Calcutta Cup woes. But I expect it to be close and for Gregor Townsend’s men to land some blows. The hosts are bizarrely short on specialist locks, which could become a serious problem if either Maro Itoje or Ollie Chessum go down early.
England 30 Scotland 22
It cannot be five losses in a row, can it? Well, in the words of Mick McCarthy, it can, but I do not think it will be. England, at home, off the back of a victory against France which has given them a shot at the title, will surely have too much this time against a Scotland team missing two of their most lethal backs. Indirectly, the bigger blow to Scotland with those two absentees is on the bench, where the Scots do not bat deep. England should be able to pull away in the last 15 and clinch what would be, all told, a comfortable victory.
England 21 Scotland 24
Unlike some on the Telegraph Rugby Podcast who change their predictions during the week (Charles) I will stick to my answer from Monday, even though I worry about Scotland with no Tuipulotu and Cummings and potentially Darcy Graham. Their hopes rest on the kicking game and how much pressure they can put on Marcus Smith, and whether they can get at England’s line-out, plus I am not totally sold on England’s win over France given how many chances were bombed by Les Bleus. Five wins over England in a row – could you imagine?
