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Stuart McInally insists Scotland’s dreadful record at Twickenham will be meaningless when they aim to prevent England winning the Six Nations title tomorrow.
The Scots have not won in London since 1983 in a barren sequence spanning 14 Tests and they have been installed as 14-1 underdogs to mark the end of the 2019 Championship with a major upset.
An added incentive for the Calcutta Cup showdown is that if Wales are dispatched by Ireland in Cardiff, then Scotland can ruin England’s own title pursuit.
“History speaks for itself in terms of our success down here in the past, but this is a one-off game,” Scotland captain McInally said.
“It’s Scotland v England at Twickenham. That’s the way we’re looking at it. We’re treating this as a one-off game and all that history goes out of the window.
“It’s 80 minutes on a green pitch and there are two teams who are going to go at it. We respect how well England have played, but we’re down here to try and win.
“The feeling in the camp is really good. We’re desperate to put in a strong performance for the people of Scotland but also for ourselves.
“We’ve underperformed in areas of this tournament and we’re disappointed with that, but there’s no lack of belief in the players that we’re doing everything we can to win.”
Scotland emerged emphatic 25-13 winners in the last meeting 12 months ago after exposing England at the breakdown, setting the wheels in motion for Eddie Jones’s men to lose five Tests in a row.
“Obviously we have the confidence that we can do it because we know we’ve done it in the last 12 months,” McInally said.
“It’s going to be an intense game and it will be about whoever plays the best rugby on the day.
“We take confidence from knowing we can beat them, but we’re under no illusions about how hard it will be.
“We are not competing for the championship and that’s disappointing from where we wanted to be right from the start.
“But in terms of the pressure being off, I wouldn’t agree with that. The pressure is always on when you play for Scotland and we love that.”
