Tom Jordan is relishing the prospect of his first away appearance for Scotland coming in what he expects to be a frenzied Calcutta Cup showdown at Twickenham.
The versatile Glasgow back has won six caps, having made his debut against Fiji in November, but all of them – four in the autumn and the first two games of this year’s Guinness Six Nations against Italy and Ireland – have been at Murrayfield.
New Zealand-born Jordan, who can operate at stand-off, full-back and centre, is expected to retain his starting place for the trip to bitter rivals England a week on Saturday after an encouraging start to his Test career.
“From all the (Calcutta Cup) games I’ve watched and even the last few years when a lot of my mates have played for Scotland down there and done really well there, you can tell how the English think of the Scottish,” said the 26-year-old.
“I’m sure the atmosphere will be amazing there and obviously they’re coming off a big win (over France). It’ll be exciting to get down there. I’m sure all the boys will be looking forward to it.”
Scotland suffered a chastening 32-18 defeat against the Irish on Sunday and Jordan believes having a fallow week will be of benefit to his side as they regroup ahead of their bid to make it five wins in a row over England, who will be buoyed by their dramatic 26-25 victory over Les Bleus.
“I think it’s good we’ve got the weekend off to sort of refresh and get the bodies right, so we should be flying into the game next week,” said Jordan. “I think it’s just about getting back on the horse, fixing up what we need to and we go again.
“Speaking probably as a fan at this moment, because I haven’t experienced it myself, it’s probably going to be pretty hostile.
“I’m sure England will be pretty keen to get one on us, so you could imagine how they’ll prepare for that game. I’m sure they’ll have a bit more sting in their tackles, for sure. It’ll be very physical as there’s obviously a lot to play for, for both teams.”
Both Calcutta Cup contestants have won one of their opening two championship matches and Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman admits his side face another test of their resolve to ensure they bounce back from their Irish setback.
“There’s no dancing around it, it’s a huge game,” said the 24-year-old Edinburgh forward. “It certainly is for us and I’m sure they’ll be targeting this one as well. There’s a huge amount to play for.
“We have to bounce back from Sunday. It will test the resilience of the team. They’ll be absolutely flying after their last result so it’ll be a real test for the boys.
“You don’t need any added motivation. We need a result down there. It’ll show the character of the boys, how we respond to the Ireland defeat.”
Ashman will be hoping to regain his starting place for Twickenham after dropping to the bench for the opening two matches, with Edinburgh colleague Dave Cherry getting the nod for the Italy and Ireland matches.
“All I can do is control my performances,” said Ashman. “I just try and make as big an impact as I can every week. I try and get my hands on the ball and perform at set-piece. I just control the controllables and see what happens.”
