For Gregor Townsend, it has been the Calcutta Cup of life; now, a meeting with the Auld Enemy could hasten his end. When Steve Borthwick leapt to the defence of his embattled opposite number earlier this week, suggesting that Scottish fans should be more focused on supporting their side against England than calling for the head coach to go, it betrayed a strange truth about Townsend’s tenure.
The former fly-half has transformed the narrative in this fixture, taking over a side that had failed to win any of their last nine meetings with England, and losing just twice in eight Calcutta Cups since. It is a striking and significant turnaround. But the frustration – of which there is much, particularly after a wretched defeat to Italy – stems from the fact that it has failed to be a part of something larger.
