The Guinness Six nations rugby is the only time I watch ruggers, partly as it’s probably Ireland’s best sporting showing, but also as it starts around my birthday and finishes close to St Patricks day.
Outside of the boys in green*, there is one fixture I always try and watch. Because there’s always some extra spice in the clash between Scotland vs England.
Other than the all-important points on offer, one of the oldest trophies in world rugby, the Calcutta Cup, is up for grabs when the two teams meet at Murrayfield this Saturday, 24th February in the third round of fixtures.
On offer only once a year, there have been 129 Calcutta Cup clashes between the two teams since 1879, with England securing 83 wins to Scotland’s 47. Currently, Scotland holds the bragging rights to the cup after beating England 29-23 at Twickenham last year in 2023.
Also, as both sides have recorded victories against the Welsh this six nations championship, the winner is still in for a chance of the Triple Crown.
From a Guinness Six Nations 2024 perspective, Scotland will also be looking to get their campaign back on track. To date, they have played two matches, won one, and lost one. They started their campaign in emphatic style against Wales, well, for the first 43 minutes of their opening encounter at least.
With influential flyhalf Finn Russell running the show, and their backs full of running, including monster wing Duhan van der Merwe, Scotland looked like they might put close to 50 points past Wales as they ran into a 27-0 lead.
Wales, however, produced a stunning fightback that almost brought a come-from-behind victory, with Scotland forced to hold on for a 27-26 win, their first in Cardiff in 22 years.
With that win under their belts, Scotland’s second match were buoyed for their home fixture against early tournament favourites France. In a ding-dong battle, the French (who lost their opening encounter against Ireland thanks to a red card) prevailed 20-16 in somewhat controversial circumstances, as Scotland was denied what seemed to be a legitimate try at the death and instead had to swallow defeat.
While it’s no consolation to the Scots, they did secure a bonus point for losing by less than seven points, which means they remain 3rd on the table, three points adrift of England, which makes this weekend’s encounter critical if they hope to catch Steve Borthwick’s charges.
England, without their influential captain and flyhalf Owen Farrell, who has taken a sabbatical from international rugby for mental health reasons, began their campaign a little shakily away to Italy. The home side, who have only won 13 Guinness Six Nations games since they joined the competition in 2000, was impressive in the first half as they led 17-14 going into the break. England, however, fought back in the second half, with flyhalf George Ford’s accurate boot ensuring the win.
In their second encounter, England were at home to Wales, fresh from their impressive, yet ultimately unsuccessful fightback against Scotland. After trailing for much of the encounter, a try by Fraser Dingwall with 16 minutes to go, converted by Ford, gave the Roses a 16-14 win.
So the two wins from their opening two encounters placed England second on the table. But perhaps tellingly, they haven’t secured a bonus point, which currently means they are two points behind leaders Ireland.
In terms of form in this fixture, Scotland have dominated the last five matches between the two countries, winning three to England’s one, with one match drawn. But of course in any Auld Enemy clash, the formbook can go out the window. There have plenty of feisty shocks since the first game between the sides 154 years ago.
Leaders (and last year’s six nations winners) Ireland kick off earlier in the day against Wales and already have the afore-mentioned 2 bonus points over England, the only other team capable of a Grand Slam.
I’m perhaps biased but the Irish have looked far more dominating and ruthless in this championship and you get the feeling they are hurting after the Rugby World Cup.
. Both teams are likely to have one eye on round 4’s match up at Twickers though, with that favouring the English far more than a tough trip to a packed Aviva Stadium in Dublin. But of course, even if England win the next two, they finish at the Stade de France in the final fixture.
Current 6 Nations table
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | D | F | A | Pts Diff | Bonus | PTS |
| 1 | Ireland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 17 | 57 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | England | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 38 | 5 | 0 | 8 |
| 3 | Scotland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 46 | -3 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | France | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 54 | -17 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Wales | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 43 | -3 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Italy | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 63 | -39 | 1 | 1 |
Match Tickets
The match takes place at Murrayfield, Edinburgh on Saturday 24 Feb 2024 at 16:45 (GMT) and is live on BBC 1.
Of course a full Murrayfield stadium atmosphere is far more fun than the TV, but Scotland vs England tickets were sold out as early as December, so finding tickets for the clash won’t be easy.
Your only option might be to check what tickets are available on websites that resell tickets or to take a chance and see if any are being sold outside the stadium before the match. But with Gregor Townsend’s team looking good to repeat last years incisive victory at Twickenham I can’t see many fans giving up tickets.
As this is one of the most significant matches to take place during the Guinness Six Nations each year because of the Calcutta Cup, it’s easy to see why it sells out so quickly.
Team News
England have not yet named their team for Saturday’s clash but are bolstered by the return from injury of centre Manu Tuilagi and lock George Martin. Whether the pair are fit enough to walk straight into the starting XV, however, remains to be seen.
There’s also a chance that Ollie Lawrence and Luke Cowan-Dickie, who have also recovered from injuries, could be named in the matchday squad.
Coach Gregor Townsend isn’t expected to make too many changes to the Scottish side for the showdown, seeing that his squad had two weeks of rest after their near miss against France.
Scotland does welcome back Hamish Watson, Blair Kinghorn, and WP Nel, while lock Alex Row has also been called into the squad.
Scotland squad to face England
Forwards: Ewan Ashman, Magnus Bradbury, Jamie Bhatti, Alex Craig, Andy Christie, Scott Cummings, Jack Dempsey, Rory Darge, Grant Gilchrist, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Alec Hepburn, Johnny Matthews, Elliot Millar-Mills, WP Nel, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Sam Skinner, George Turner, Hamish Watson, Glen Young.
Backs: Ben Healy, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Harry Paterson, Ali Price, Cameron Redpath, Arron Reed, Kyle Rowe, Finn Russell, Kyle Steyn, Ross Thompson, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White.
England squad to face Scotland
Forwards: Ollie Chessum, Dan Cole, Alex Coles, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ben Curry, Theo Dan, Alex Dombrandt, Ben Earl, Charlie Ewels, Ellis Genge, Jamie George (capt), Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje, Joe Marler, Beno Obano, George Martin, Ethan Roots, Will Stuart, Sam Underhill.
Backs: Danny Care, Elliot Daly, Fraser Dingwall, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Alex Mitchell, Will Muir, Max Ojomoh, Tom Roebuck, Henry Slade, Fin Smith, Ben Spencer, Freddie Steward, Manu Tuilagi.
Prediction
Playing for the Calcutta Cup certainly brings an extra edge to this rugby union fixture, and it’s something that both teams will want to have bragging rights to.
There’s an undeniable advantage for Scotland in the fact that they will be playing at home in front of their vociferous supporters. Having said that, England had a home-ground advantage and 80,000 cheering them on against Scotland last year at Twickenham but still lost.
Scotland, as the more settled of the two sides in this year’s tournament and coming off a controversial loss to France, are the favourites, however, in what will be a closely contested game.
With Russell running the show from flyhalf and a backline filled with flair players, including Van der Merwe and Huw Jones, Scotland should win what will be a close encounter by less than 10 points.
Scotland 20-14 England
2024 Six Nations results and Fixtures
| Round 1 | Home | Score | Away |
| 02.02.24 | France | 17-38 | Ireland |
| 03.02.24 | Italy | 24-27 | England |
| 03.02.24 | Wales | 26-27 | Scotland |
| Round 2 | Round 2 | ||
| 10.02.24 | Scotland | 16-20 | France |
| 10.02.24 | England | 16-14 | Wales |
| 11.02.24 | Ireland | 36-0 | Italy |
| Round 3 | |||
| 24.02.24 | Ireland | 2:15pm | Wales |
| 24.02.24 | Scotland | 4:45pm | England |
| 25.02.24 | France | 3:00pm | Italy |
| Round 4 | |||
| 09.03.24 | Italy | 2:15pm | Scotland |
| 09.03.24 | England | 4:45pm | Ireland |
| 10.03.24 | Wales | 3pm | France |
| Round 5 | |||
| 16.03.24 | Wales | 2:15pm | Italy |
| 16.03.24 | Ireland | 4:45pm | Scotland |
| 16.03.24 | France | 8pm | England |
