Itoje calls for ‘bulletproof’ England approach to slay their Murrayfield ghosts
Maro Itoje has called on his England side to be ‘bulletproof’ as they seek to clinch a first win at Murrayfield in six years on Saturday in the Six Nations
Maro Itoje has called on his England side to be “bulletproof” as they seek to clinch a first win at Murrayfield in six years on Saturday. England can keep their grand slam pursuit alive by successfully defending the Calcutta Cup and Itoje has urged his side to create their own history despite their recent wretched form in Edinburgh.
With England on a 12-match winning streak and Scotland suffering a shock defeat by Italy last week, Steve Borthwick’s side are clear favourites for victory. Their only victory at Murrayfield since Eddie Jones’ first game in charge came in miserable weather in 2020, however, with Scotland securing victories in 2022 and last time out in 2024.
England have been regularly knocked from their stride on Scottish soil with a pre-match fracas in the tunnel preceding the 2018 defeat. Jones was furious two years later when he thought a Scotland supporter had thrown a bottle at his head of elite performance Neil Craig, while, two years ago, Borthwick said that his players had “played small” after relinquishing an early lead.
Having won all of their matches since their defeat in Dublin at the start of last year’s tournament, however, Itoje is confident England are well equipped to deal with whatever awaits them at Murrayfield. He said: “It is not that hostile! They like us here! When you play away from home you generally have to be sharper, you have to be … 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.
“I want us to be aggressive, accurate, play with confidence. Every time we play them and every time we play them up here it’s always a physical game. I just want us to be confident; I want us to be the aggressors and take pride in how we play. Just put ourselves on the front foot. Attack the game. We’ve built confidence throughout this last week and previous games and the more we are together it feels like we are pushing in the right direction, and I want us to continue in that spirit.
“I have never been part of an England team that felt fearful or felt we couldn’t go out there and win. But I definitely feel that now with this group of players, there is a good, solid alignment between the players and the coaching staff. It feels like we are really on the same page and the more time we spend together it feels like we are becoming more and more cohesive.”
Gregor Townsend is under mounting pressure after a disappointing autumn was followed by an opening defeat in Rome amid reports he has agreed to take over at Newcastle Red Bulls once his Scotland contract expires after the 2027 World Cup. In the Calcutta Cup, however, he has an impressive record of five wins and a draw in his eight matches against England.
It’s a Valentine’s Day special: Scotland and England meet in different sports 5,000 miles apart today:
9.30am GMT Scotland v England in Kolkata (cricket)
4.40pm GMT Scotland v England in Calcutta Cup (rugby union)
The history
The cricketers are meeting in the T20 World Cup at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta – the very Indian city where, in 1878, British expats in the process of disbanding their local rugby club melted down their last 270 silver rupees to form a trophy that they gifted to the RFU. The Calcutta Cup has since been awarded to the winners of the England v Scotland men's rugby international, played annually as part of the Six Nations.
The contests
Scotland arrive at both matches on the back of an instructive game against Italy. the rugby men fell to a dispiriting 18-15 defeat in Rome last Saturday, while the cricketers beat the Italians by 73 runs on Monday in a match that went to form. England are favourites in both contests today but nothing is certain – their cricketers were taken to the last ball by Nepal and lost to the West Indies, while their rugby union team have lost on their last two trips to Edinburgh.
The Valentine’s factor
There’s no love lost when these nations meet, though they have never faced each other in cricket or rugby on 14 February. There is football history on this date though – the Scottish FA’s centenary match in 1973. Bobby Moore captained England in a 5-0 Hampden win over a side featuring Kenny Dalglish and George Graham, skippered by Billy Bremner. Warning: love may be tested in households where watching cricket all morning and rugby for most of the afternoon is not seen as the optimal Valentine’s Day by both partners.
The outcome
In both instances a Scotland win would serve the tournament better – the Six Nations desperately needs a revitalised Scottish team, while a theme of cricket’s expansive T20 World Cup is the growth of the associate nations. But with Phil Salt opening England’s batting in Kolkata and Guy Pepper in the English pack at Murrayfield, there is an outcome that would give extra flavour to a day of sporting coincidences: double England glory ... led by Salt and Pepper.
Itoje added: “We know in recent times we have not been as successful as we would have liked to have but the issue has not been the stadium, the issue has been our performances so regardless of whether it is up here, or down at Twickenham, or anywhere else in the world, what we need to get right is our performance.
“It is not about dwelling too much on previous history. 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.”
Meanwhile, Ben Earl is backing Henry Pollock to take any wind-up tactics from opponents or Scotland supporters in his stride. “He’s dealt with everything else,” said Earl. “Trust me, he gets it way worse in training than anywhere else he’s had it. He’ll be all right.”