“It seemed to him a very Edinburgh thing,” Ian Rankin wrote in one of his Inspector Rebus novels. “Welcoming, but not very.” It is an assessment with which England might agree. “It is not that hostile!” Maro Itoje chuckled this week. “They like us here.” But recent trips to Auld Reekie have been rather gloomy for marauders from down south; a city of stone providing a handful of uncomfortable landings.
Four times England have visited Murrayfield since 2018; only once have they emerged with victory. Fortune has favoured a brave Scotland – remember Finn Russell’s arcing pass in 2018 – but there has been a faintly farcical feel about aspects of England’s attempts to conquer their hosts, from Luke Cowan-Dickie’s volleyball spike in 2022 to their most recent visit, where both Duhan van der Merwe and a slippery ball escaped English clutches all too easily.
Even the lone victory of late came in an almost irredeemable game played in nasty conditions, and ended with an accusation of a bottle being thrown at a member of the England staff – although it later transpired that the swirling wind was likely to blame, Neil Craig attacked by a gust rather than with gusto in 2020.
It is a place, then, without many happy memories upon which to draw as England prepare for Calcutta Cup conflict again. “It is not about dwelling too much on previous history,” Itoje stressed. “This is an opportunity for us as a group to create new history. This is an opportunity for us to be the type of England team we want to be going to these amazing stadiums and performing well. That is the positive message we want to try and reinforce.
“When you play away from home, you generally have to be sharper. There are things that happen you just have to roll with, there are things that happen that you just take on the chin and make sure you are bulletproof to the scenarios.”
It would be an apt time for England to address their Murrayfield hoodoo and horrors. While one could respect the dismissal of a derisible Wales on the opening weekend, there is a realisation that England’s championship really starts here and a chance to answer a key question about Steve Borthwick’s side. A streak of 12 consecutive wins has come without, some would say, a signature scalp on the road – while two Test wins with a weakened squad in Argentina is not to be sniffed at, the Pumas were short of full strength, too.
Expand the parameters beyond that recent run to look at the Borthwick era in its entirety and statement away successes are still hard to find. Excepting a 2023 World Cup played on neutral ground, and last summer’s trip to South America, this upwardly-mobile outfit has overcome only Japan, Wales, Italy and the USA away from Twickenham.
A Scotland side in its finest fettle this may not be, but Gregor Townsend’s charges tend to be on perfect emotional and physical pitch for the visit of the Auld Enemy. England No 8 Ben Earl described Murrayfield as a “bogey zone” for his team after the win over Wales – there is recognition within the visiting camp of a need to right a few wrongs.
Equally, though, fresher faces will bring a new perspective, as Earl explained. “We’ve almost got a good blend here of complete naivety and ignorance of what’s coming, and then guys like George [Ford], Jamie [George] and Maro [Itoje] and a few others who have played there a few times and have had mixed emotions, and know what to expect.”
There remains lingering frustration within the England camp about the 2024 meeting, although it became one of their more instructive “learning experiences”, as Borthwick might term it. After a World Cup campaign played within the tight tactical shackles of a limited, but ultimately effective, game plan, the head coach had begun a process of liberation – or at least something like it. At Murrayfield, he has reflected repeatedly since England abandoned those intentions and “played small” when the errors came. It led to a fallow week in York of harsh reflection and new direction – while another year of stumbles and fumbles in the final quarter followed, it was a catalyst for England’s subsequent transformation.
They are not yet, though, a champion side, and surely cannot afford to play below their best against a Scottish team that have already had one significant slip-up. One can expect a fierce reception from the battlements of a castle under siege amid growing scrutiny over Townsend and his squad. A few chosen soldiers might, though, be starting to wonder about whether the former fly-half’s regime has run its course amid some slightly muddled messages; a day that demands no backwards step be taken is not the time for a team in retreat.
Often, though, this fixture has proved such notions premature. It is a surprise not to see the towering Blair Kinghorn recalled to counter England’s aerial bombardment, but it is their foundations that faltered in the Italian deluge last week. In an attempt to solidify the set piece, Nathan McBeth and Gregor Brown are promoted into the starting Scottish tight five – each will have a major role to play. “Our forwards’ display over these last number of games against England has been excellent,” Townsend said. “We understand the set-piece pressure England put on opposition in the line-out and scrum, even in the ruck area, and combating that has been at the heart of our successes or good performances in this fixture. That has to come this weekend.”
