The Scotland captain, Jamie Ritchie, has said he does not know what to expect from England’s new-look side under Steve Borthwick as the visiting side seek to extend their unbeaten run at Twickenham to three matches.
Scotland have won their past two matches against England, having ended their 38-year wait for a victory at Twickenham in 2021 before edging past Eddie Jones’s side at Murrayfield last year. In 2019 they mounted a dramatic comeback in a thrilling 38-38 draw, ensuring they have not lost in south-west London since 2017.
With Borthwick at the England helm, however, and launching his tenure on Saturday, Ritchie said Scotland’s return to Twickenham is a step into the unknown. “I don’t really know what to expect,” he said. “Which is quite nice as well because it’s allowed us to focus more on ourselves.
“Will it be similar to how Leicester play? I don’t know. The backbone of that team is quite similar and they like to play in a certain way. We expect them to be physical as always and it’ll be a good game, I’m sure.”
Asked what he puts Scotland’s impressive recent record against England down to, Ritchie said: “Good performances. In the game last year we played really well, we defended really well. The game the year before we were really comfortable, I felt that we negated what they were looking to do and we’re confident that we can have a strong performance [on Saturday] as well.
“Most of my memories [of the 2021 victory] are being in the changing room afterwards and how good that was, where we were in the world at the time, having the ability to be doing what we were doing and spending a lot of time together and having that opportunity to represent our nation was really special. I just remember there being a real togetherness.”
