Preview: England v Scotland

What they said

Head Coach Gregor Townsend said: “It means a huge amount. We know we play for a separate trophy, it’s the fixture that our nation looks forward to more than any other, and it’s the middle fixture of our Six Nations.

“(On England) They’ve played consistently well for a while now. Throughout November they were involved in some really tight fixtures with some really good opposition against them, and they’ve started this season really well.”

Outside centre Huw Jones said: “We’re obviously disappointed with the Ireland game. We weren’t ourselves, we didn’t start well and across the board there we too many errors. It’s not ideal, but we’ve still got a lot to play for in this championship so we’re looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“The Scotland-England rivalry is huge. Being able to look back on good performances and knowing that we’ve been down there and played well and won, we can take a lot of confidence from that.”

The teams

The stats

• Scotland have managed the quickest attacking ruck speed (3.3s average) of any side at this 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, whilst England have been the slowest (4.8s), Scotland’s tally of 235 rucks is the highest of any side, and reflects the fact they’ve had more possession (58%) than anyone else.
• Scotland have made more offloads (23) than any other side after two rounds of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations. Individually the top three players all represent Scotland, with Blair Kinghorn, Jonny Gray and Rory Darge all making five so far.
• Scotland captain, Rory Darge, has hit more attacking rucks (65) than any other player in this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations, ahead of Maro Itoje (62) in second spot and then the Fagerson brothers in third and fourth (Zander 58, Matt 54), he also tops the charts for dominant tackles (6).