ENGLAND HAVE stoked the boiler ahead of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup showdown with manager Martin Johnson declaring he has no sympathy for a struggling Scotland side with “a chip on their shoulder”.
Earlier England captain Steve Borthwick had accused Scotland of being ungracious in victory following last season’s clash at Murrayfield, a comment that provoked Scottish coach Frank Hadden to challenge Borthwick to explain exactly what had upset him about the celebrations.
Johnson has named an unchanged team for the 126th instalment of international rugby’s oldest rivalry after watching England roar back into form with a 34-10 victory over France.
Scotland have not beaten England at Twickenham in 26 years and they go there with Hadden under increasing pressure for his job after just one win in four.
But with second place in the Six Nations championship up for grabs, Johnson has demanded his men improve on their France performance and send a potentially dangerous Scotland team packing.
“I have no sympathy for them at the moment. We have to look after ourselves,” said Johnson, who never lost to Scotland in 10 years as an England player.
“They will come down here desperate to win. They will regard themselves as underdogs and have that chip on their shoulder. It will make them difficult to beat.
“They haven’t won at Twickenham for a while. It will be a big thing for them if they win.”
Johnson has included Toby Flood and Joe Worsley in the expectation that both would be fit after their respective conditions – a shoulder injury and badly cut finger – made substantial improvements overnight.
Commenting on Borthwick’s remarks, Hadden said: “I really have no idea what he’s talking about. I won’t tell you what other people have been saying behind the scenes. If he was being specific about something then maybe we could judge whether we were ‘not gracious’, or whatever he’s referring to.”
When it was put to Hadden that Borthwick might have been upset at a video shown at the post-match dinner which depicted great Scottish rugby moments, he retorted: “There are always videos being played at every dinner so, if that’s what it was, it doesn’t seem to be terribly upsetting to me.”
Borthwick had said: “There are certain things I will not forget after that game. They made no disguise in rubbing in the fact they had beaten England.”
Meanwhile, France have reacted to Sunday’s humiliating defeat to England by making four personnel changes and two positional alterations for this weekend’s clash with Italy in Rome. Damien Traille, Florian Fritz, Julien Bonnaire and Fabien Barcella return to the team, with Julien Malzieu, Mathieu Bastareaud, Jerome Thion and Lionel Faure dropping out.
FRANCE:D Traille; M Medard, F Fritz, Y Jauzion, C Heymans; F Trinh-Duc, M Parra; FBarcella, D Szarzewski, S Marconnet, L Nallet capt, S Chabal, T Dusautoir, J Bonnaire, I Harinordoquy. Replacements:W Servat, T Domingo, J Thion, L Picamoles, FMichalak, M Bastareaud, J Malzieu.
