England coach Clive Woodward has warned
his world champion squad of the dangers of under estimating Scottish opponents with “absolutely everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
England coach Clive Woodward has warned
his world champion squad of the dangers of under estimating Scottish opponents with “absolutely everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
England go into Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield as
extremely
short odds favourites to complete the second leg of what is widely
expected to
be a Six Nations Grand Slam triumph to follow up their victory in the
World
Cup in Australia at the end of last year.
But despite the vast gulf that separates England from a Scotland
side in
the first stages of rebuilding, Woodward insists there can be no room
for
complacency in what may be difficult conditions given the steady rain
in
Edinburgh on Friday.
“I don’t care how we win the game, it’s just about
winning,” Woodward said.
“We are used to the favourites’ tag, but this is another good
match-up. If
we are allowed to play the way we want to play, then we can win the
game, but
it will be a tough old game – it always is up here.
“We’ve been up here and won, and we’ve been up here and lost.
On both
occasions, we were red-hot favourites, and you draw on all your
experience as
a player and as a coach.
“I just know it is very easy coaching a team who are the
underdogs playing
against arguably the best team in the world. You know what’s going on
in their
changing room – Scotland have got absolutely everything to gain, and
nothing
to lose.”
Although England opened their campaign with a seven-try hammering
of Italy
in Rome, Woodward was not totally satisfied with what he termed a
“little bit
rusty” performance.
“We’ve sat down and watched the video, and we are looking for
a big
performance tomorrow.”
Woodward also underlined that a greasy pitch would be no excuse if
England
were to succumb to what would be a major upset.
“People talk about the weather up here in 2000, but it did
rain before
2000. We just had a bad day, and lost to a better team.”
Scotland go into the match looking to restore some morale after
last week’s
heavy defeat by Wales in Cardiff. Coach Matt Williams has called up
wing Simon
Webster and flanker Jason White in a bit to give his side some added
edge.
England will hand a first Test match start to Sale forward Chris
Jones and
will look to his 6ft 6in (1.95m) frame to give them an added edge in
the
lineouts.
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