Six Nations 2024: Scotland vs England match preview, team news, kick-off time & BBC coverage

Having become accustomed to losing to England, Scotland have enjoyed the Calcutta Cup bragging rights of late.

Saturday’s Six Nations game is vital for Scotland after losing to France in a controversial finish in round two.

However, England are also harbouring tentative title ambitions after opening with two narrow victories.

England travel to Edinburgh as one of only two unbeaten teams left in the tournament but have not won at Murrayfield since edging a tight affair in terrible weather conditions during their most recent title-winning campaign four years ago.

Scotland are still smarting after a decisive last-gasp try was denied by the officials last time out against France, and the home team must defeat their oldest rivals to retain any hope of winning a first Six Nations crown.

They are boosted by excellent form in this fixture – since taking over as Scotland’s head coach, Gregor Townsend has lost just one of six meetings with England.

Team news

Scotland: Jamie Ritchie has been restored to the starting XV having being dropped from the squad for the defeat by France.

The recently deposed captain is back in the side at blind-side flanker in place of Matt Fagerson, as one of three changes made by Townsend.

Full-back Blair Kinghorn returns after a knee issue and wing Kyle Steyn is included after having to pull out at the last minute against France as his wife was in labour.

Fagerson and backs Kyle Rowe and Harry Paterson are left out of the squad, with the bench unchanged.

England: The visitors have made five changes including the surprise choice of George Furbank at full-back, with Freddie Steward dropping out of the matchday squad.

Furbank, however, did start at full-back when England won at Murrayfield in 2020.

Centre Ollie Lawrence is also included after recovering from injury and comes in for Fraser Dingwall.

Scrum-half Danny Care makes his first Six Nations start in six years in place of the injured Alex Mitchell.

Dan Cole and Ellis Genge are the starting props with Joe Marler and Will Stuart dropping to the bench, where they are joined by fit-again lock George Martin.

Captain Jamie George plays just over a week after the death of his mother Jane, who he described as probably the biggest England rugby fan there could ever be.

Commentator’s notes

Andrew Cotter: England might hope that a perceived power advantage could work well as Scotland struggled against the muscle of South Africa and Ireland at the World Cup and Lawrence certainly adds extra punch in midfield.

But the intriguing selection of Furbank over Steward at full-back hints at something sharper than a blunt instrument approach.

Scotland’s great hopes lies with an attacking back-line to rival the best, bolstered by a returning Kinghorn at full-back, while the midfield axis of Finn Russell, Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones have the talents to unlock England’s still fairly new blitz defence.

Scotland have the armoury, but can their forwards give them the platform?

The Calcutta Cup seldom needs extra promotion but with England going for three wins from three and Scotland looking to make it four successive victories over their oldest rivals, it should be quite an occasion.

View from both camps

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend: “When you’re coming in off the back of a defeat, you have to bounce back with a victory.

“You’re not really thinking about the championship. We’ll see where we are on Saturday.

“The full focus is on this game because it’s our most important game of the season.”

England head coach Steve Borthwick: “We’re pleased with the start we’ve made but know that a difficult test awaits us against an in-form Scotland team.

“The atmosphere is always special for any Calcutta Cup match and I’m sure this game will be no different.

“This group of players are looking forward to the challenge and to creating some very special memories.”

Line-ups

Scotland: 15-Kinghorn, 14-Steyn, 13-Jones, 12-Tuipulotu, 11-Van der Merwe, 10-Russell (co-capt), 9-White; 1-Schoeman, 2-Turner, 3-Fagerson, 4-Gilchrist, 5-Cummings, 6-Ritchie, 7-Darge (co-capt), 8-Dempsey

Replacements: 16-Ashman, 17-Hepburn, 18-Millar-Mills, 19-Skinner, 20-Christie, 21-Horne, 22-Healy, 23-Redpath

England: 15-Furbank, 14-Freeman, 13-Slade, 12-Lawrence, 11-Daly; 10-Ford, 9-Care; 1-Genge, 2- George (capt), 3-Cole, 4-Itoje, Chessum, Roots, Underhill, 8-Earl

Replacements: 16-Dan, 17-Marler, 18-Stuart, 19-Martin, 20-Cunningham-South, 21-Spencer, 22-Smith, 23-Feyi-Waboso

Match facts

Head-to-head

• Scotland have won four and drawn one of their past six encounters with England following a run of seven successive defeats.
• Three straight wins v England is as many as they managed in their previous 20 Tests (D2, L15).
• The Scots are aiming for back-to-back wins v England at Murrayfield for the first time since 2006-08.

Scotland

• Against France, Duhan van der Merwe failed to beat a defender for the first time for Scotland and for just the second time in his Test career after the second Lions Test against South Africa in 2021.
• They have made more kicks in play (82) than any other side so far, with Finn Russell making 44 of those, 15 more than any other player.
• Fourteen of their 37 missed tackles have resulted in the opposition making a line break which is the highest ratio in the Six Nations (38%)
• Gregor Townsend won just one of 10 Calcutta Cups as a player but his record as coach is W4, D1, L1.

England

• England are aiming to win three Six Nations matches in a row for the first time since 2020.
• The Red Rose have won their opening two Six Nations fixtures for the first time in five years.
• The last time they won their first three matches was in 2017 when they went on to win the title.
• They have conceded 34 tries in their last 12 Six Nations games, the second highest amount ahead of only Italy (57). Scotland have conceded 33, with Ireland on just 12.

Match officials

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Touch judges: Chris Busby (Ireland) & Eoghan Cross (Ireland)

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)