“We’ve got to hit the ground running” - Hamish Watson

Scotland flanker Hamish Watson is eager for his team to start stongly as they attempt a first victory at Twickenham for 38 years.

In 2019, the Scots faltered in the first half, allowing the English to run up a massive 31-0 advantage as the half-time whistle blew. Then, in one of the great comebacks in rugby’s history, Scotland, somehow, pulled the game back and found themselves 38-31 up after the final hooter, only to lose it at the death thanks to a George ford try equalling the scores.

If Scotland can adopt some of that game’s second half form from the get-go on Saturday, they may well be in with a decent chance.

“We’ve got to hit the ground running,” Watson said. “When we’ve gone to Twickenham the last two times we’ve definitely not done that.

“In 2017 it was a yellow card that didn’t help but in 2019 there was no excuse, it was just a slow start and we put ourselves in a dreadful position.

“Then it becomes really hard to overturn that deficit. I think it’s down to control, to be honest. You’ve got to go down there and try to control the first 20 minutes of the game.

“2019 was such a weird game with all the emotions which only sport can deliver – there is no other thing that makes you feel like that, the ups and downs are one of the great things about sport.

“At the end of the day, I think we felt hard done by, which I know seems a ridiculous thing to say when you were 31-0 down, but to get into the position where you are winning the game 38-31 and that close to winning at Twickenham for the first time in a decent while, only to end up drawing – it was nuts.

“It was probably a game we didn’t deserve to win, if we’re being honest, with the way we played in the first half. But when you put yourself in a position to win the game like that, it was pretty gutting when you don’t manage to get over the line.

“I think we’ve seen in the last few years, and not just with Scotland, that teams struggle to get away wins.

“We obviously got one in Wales in the Six Nations game in the autumn but we know that if we want to progress from three wins you’re going to have to pick up an away win which is historically quite a hard thing to do in the Six Nations.

“We’ve got two of the in-form teams in rugby, with France and England away, so it’s a great opportunity to try to build on those three wins which we’ve done in three of the last campaigns out of four.

“To become one of the top teams in the world you’ve got to start winning your away games and that’s the challenge for us.”