England Will Be Looking To Win And That's The Lawes

It’s been two weeks since England were bought back down to earth by Ireland to end any hope of winning the grand slam, however, with only two rounds to go the Red Rose have a slim chance of winning the tournament.

It begins this weekend as Scotland travel down to Twickenham to see if they can bounce back from the disappointing defeat to Italy to win the Calcutta Cup.

It’s been a strange tournament for Scotland because their performances against France and Wales showed they were able to compete with the big boys, and even though Italy were were also showing signs of improvement everyone including myself were expecting a Scotland win.

The Azzurri showcased a passionate performance to clinch the win and now it looked as if Vern Cotters men will be picking up the wooden spoon, but this is all forgotten as one of the oldest rivalries in rugby takes place at the home of rugby.

Scotland haven’t won at Twickenham since 1983, and Cotter has made five changes to his side in the hope of changing history with Edinburgh’s Dougie Fife and Matt Scott coming in for the injured Sean Lamont and Alex Dunbor, while club teammate David Denton has recovered from a calf strain to replace Johnnie Beattie.

Personally the two biggest and most important changes to the Scotland starting line up is the return of Finn Russell at fly half, and even though Peter Horne did his job he did miss the kick to touch which ultimately lost them the match against Italy.

Russell returning to the squad is a big boost as he has been at the centre point for Scotland moving forward and he’ll make sure he’s a thorn in Englands side. Along with another great kicking scrum half in Greg Laidlaw I wouldn’t be too surprised if they try to do what Ireland did and imply the kicking game.

Jim Hamilton also makes a comeback which should come as no surprise with the second row applying his trade with Saracens effectively. He comes with good knowledge of English rugby and the ex Gloucester man will also be commander and chief of the lineout.

Stuart Lancaster has also made changes to his squad as we see Courtney Lawes replacing George Kruis and Mike Brown has made a full recovery from concussion to return to fullback, pushing out Alex Goode.

It’s great to see Lawes back in an England shirt as he has been outstanding for Northampton since his return from injury. After the horror show in Ireland the second row will bring more command in the lineout and he will be carrying out the big hits and leave everything out on the field.

Meanwhile, with Brown back in the squad it means we finally have someone who will kick and chase as our kicking game at the Aviva Stadium was poor at best, with as no one actually chasing any of the high balls they kicked and putting pressure on Rob Kearney in the contest. The game really highlighted how badly we missed Brown.

I think we will see the Harlequins fullback at his best as he’s had a rest from rugby and will be fully charged to the destructive quality that won him player of the tournament last year.

There’s also three changes made in the replacements as Kieran Brookes has come back in for the injured Henry Thomas. This change was always likely to happen even if Thomas wasn’t injured.

We also have Geoff Parling and Tom Wood back in the fold and this is great news because with Parling we have a safe pair of hands and his partnership with Lawes will also be really beneficial.

The return of Wood is also a great thing: he was another player we missed in the defeat to Ireland and I would have liked to seen him replace James Haskell. Even though I like Wasps captain as a player, and he plays his heart out for England, I think Wood is just that little bit better.

The one player who annoys me until he is no longer in an England shirt is Lancaster’s pet dog Billy Twelvetrees. Why is this man still picked over the likes of Henry Slade, Kyle Eastmond and now Elliot Daly?

Twelvetrees has done nothing good in an England shirt. You can say “Oh, he played well against Wales and Italy” and fine, I’ll concede his play secured the win against Wales, but frankly he did nothing in the game against Italy. 

I will use the Ireland game as an example of how useless he is for England as the Gloucester captain had one job to pass to Jack Nowell to score what could still have been an important two points.

What does he do – passes the ball forward! Compared to Danny Cipirani or any of the centres I’ve mentioned, Twelvetrees has the creativity of a plank of wood.

Starting Line Up

Mike Brown - 15 - Stuart Hogg

Anthony Watson - 14 - Dougie Fife

Jonathan Joseph - 13 - Mark Bennett

Luther Burrell - 12 - Matt Scott

Jack Nowell - 11 - Tommy Seymour

George Ford - 10 - Finn Russell

Ben Youngs - 9 - Greig Laidlaw (c)

Joe Marler - 1 - Alasdair Dickinson

Dylan Hartley - 2 - Ross Ford

Dan Cole - 3 - Euan Murray

Dave Attwood - 4 - Jim Hamilton

Courtney Lawes - 5 - Jonny Gray

James Haskell - 6 - Rob Harley

(c) Chris Robshaw - 7 - Blair Cowan

Billy Vunipola - 8 - David Denton

Replacements

Tom Youngs - 16 - Fraser Brown

Mako Vunipola - 17 - Ryan Grant

Kieran Brookes - 18 - Geoff Cross

Geoff Parling - 19 - Tim Swinson

Tom Wood - 20 - John Beattie

Richard Wigglesworth - 21 - Adam Ashe

Danny Cipriani - 22 - Sam Hidalgo - Clyne

Billy Twelvetrees - 23 - Greig Tonks