Scotland and England renew hostilities in their latest Calcutta Cup clash on a mouthwatering second Saturday of Six Nations action this afternoon.
Both sides will be looking to bounce back from defeats suffered on opening weekend, with the hosts unable to turn pressure into tries during a frustrating 19-12 loss to Ireland in Dublin and Eddie Jones' men bested 24-17 by a rejuvenated France outfit in Paris.
Date: Today (Saturday, February 8th, 2020)
Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Kick-off time: 4:45pm GMT
Team news and starting XV
Star fly-half Finn Russell remains absent for Scotland having missed the defeat to Ireland following a 'breach of team protocol'.
It remains to be seen if he will play at all before the end of the tournament.
Back row Magnus Bradbury replaces Nick Haining in the only change to the Scotland line-up.
Scotland XV: Hogg; Maitland, Jones, Johnson, Kinghorn; Hastings, Price; Sutherland, Brown, Fagerson, Cummings, Gray, Ritchie, Watson, Bradbury.
Replacements: McInally, Dell, Berghan, Toolis, Haining, Horne, Hutchinson, Harris.
Ben Youngs has been dropped from the England side in one of five changes made by Eddie Jones.
Willi Heinz comes in for the Leicester scrum-half after the disastrous opening weekend defeat to France last Sunday.
Joe Marler, omitted from the squad completely, is replaced in the starting XV by Mako Vunipola, with Ellis Genge among the replacements.
Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Kyle Sinckler are named in the front row with George Kruis and Maro Itoje selected in the second row.
England will be without Anthony Watson for the second week running after suffering a calf injury setback in training on Tuesday.
England XV: Furbank; May, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Heinz; M Vunipola, George, Sinckler, Kruis, Itoje, Ludlam, Underhill, Curry
Replacements: Dunn, Genge, Stuart, Launchbury, Lawes, Earl, Youngs, Devoto
Prediction: England win
England were well below par against a youthful France, with an uncharacteristically slow start, errors galore and none of the "brutal physicality" that Jones had promised before the match.
Scotland, meanwhile, were much better than advertised without key man Russell in Dublin, but their chronic inability to convert possession in the opposition 22 into tries will be a significant concern.
The visitors should be chomping at the bit to put things right and silence suggestions that they are suffering from a World Cup hangover and seem likely to respond against old rivals with the sort of intense display that has become their trademark over recent years.
If they are found wanting in that department again, Scotland will need no second invitation to take full advantage.
Betting odds
Match odds
- Scotland to win: 14/5
- England to win: 2/5
- Draw: 24/1
Odds provided by Betfair Exchange. Click here for more odds.
TV channel and live stream, and online coverage
ITV and the BBC are sharing broadcasting rights for the Six Nations once again this year, with BBC hosting Scotland vs England on BBC One, the BBC Sport website and the BBC iPlayer.
You can also follow all the action with Standard Sport's LIVE blog with rugby correspondent Will Macpherson in Edinburgh.
Head to Head record and history (h2h)
England have won 75 of the 137 meetings between these two nations over 148 years, with Scotland claiming 43 victories.
There have been 19 draws, including the astonishing Six Nations match last March when Scotland remarkably fought back from 31-0 down in a breathless 38-38 draw at Twickenham.
Scotland also recorded a first win over England since 2008 at Murrayfield two years ago thanks to tries from Huw Jones and Sean Maitland.
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