England’s forwards will head north on Thursday vowing to give Finn Russell another torrid day at the office in the Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield this weekend. The Scotland fly-half has endured a mixed Six Nations campaign so far and, according to the English back-rower Courtney Lawes, further heavy punishment is heading his way.
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The England pack have not forgotten their fast start in the 61-21 hammering of the Scots at Twickenham last season and are determined to pile into their hosts from the outset, with Russell topping their priority list.
“Are we going to target him any more than any other 10? No, but we are going to target him,” Lawes said. “He is a quality player and we don’t want him to have a sniff at all.
“As loose forwards we want to get into that channel and put pressure on the 10. He is a confidence player so if you let him get confidence early on he is probably going to have a good game. In 99% of games you play in you are going to target the nine and 10 because they run the game for the opposition.”
England have not lost against Scotland in the Six Nations for a decade and Lawes and his team-mates believe the current side, who have won 24 of their 25 Tests under Eddie Jones, are developing into an increasingly formidable unit. “We have got a game‑plan for Scotland and part of that involves winning the up-front battle but that is not all we have. We are not a one‑dimensional team and there are plenty of ways we can manipulate players and teams into success for us.
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“As a team you have to get on the front foot if you are going to have any success but, rather than trying to knock down a brick wall, we are more detailed now. We are a bit more dynamic and we can create holes for each other.”
Nathan Hughes’s imminent return from injury is also set to increase England’s physicality. “He is a great ball-carrier, a big impact player like myself,” Lawes said. “He is going to be very good for us and someone we’ll look to get on the ball and get us over that gain-line.”
The visitors, even so, remain wary of Greig Laidlaw’s boot, the scrum-half having mercilessly punished France’s ill-discipline in round two. “Something we are eager to improve is our discipline in games,” Lawes said. “It is definitely something we have to get right this week. It is a lot to do with reading the referees and what they are picking you up on. We are not giving away tons of penalties but we are always working to improve in that area.”