England v Scotland: Team line-ups, kick-off time, key quotes, predictions, odds and where to watch on TV

By Sporting Life

Rugby Union

Fri March 15, 2019 · 6y ago

Our guide to the final game of the 2019 Guinness Six Nations as England host Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday, includes team news, predictions, statistics and more.

Six Nations schedule, TV guide, results, table & history

What time is kick off & what channel is it on?

This is the final game on Saturday March 16 and thus the final of the 2019 Six Nations. It kicks off at 1700 GMT at Twickenham, London, and is live on ITV 1.

Six Nations title permutations

Wales, England and Ireland can all still win the Six Nations going into the weekend. These are the potential permutations.

* Wales will win the Six Nations title and clinch a first Grand Slam for seven years if they beat Ireland in Cardiff.

* If Wales and England finish tied on 20 points, which is quite possible, then Wales will still be crowned champions as Grand Slam winners are automatically awarded three bonus points under Six Nations rules.

* A draw between Wales and Ireland - and England losing to Scotland at Twickenham - would see Wales win the title without a Grand Slam.

* A draw between Wales and Ireland - and England beating Scotland - would see England crowned champions.

* If Ireland beat Wales and England defeat Scotland, then England will be champions.

* If Ireland beat Wales and England lose to Scotland, then Ireland will be champions.

England v Scotland: Teams

England: E Daly (Wasps); J Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), H Slade (Exeter Chiefs), M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers) , J May (Leicester Tigers); O Farrell (Saracens, capt), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers); B Moon (Exeter Chiefs), J George (Saracens), K Sinckler (Harlequins), J Launchbury (Wasps), G Kruis (Saracens), M Wilson (Newcastle Falcons), T Curry (Sale Sharks), B Vunipola (Saracens). Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), E Genge (Leicester Tigers), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), B Shields (Wasps), N Hughes (Wasps), B Spencer (Saracens), G Ford (Leicester Tigers), B Te'o (Worcester Warriors).

Scotland: Sean Maitland; Darcy Graham, Nick Grigg, Sam Johnson, Byron McGuigan; Finn Russell, Ali Price; Allan Dell, Stuart McInally (capt), Willem Nel; Ben Toolis, Grant Gilchrist; Sam Skinner, Hamish Watson, Magnus Bradbury. Replacements: Fraser Brown, Gordon Reid, Simon Berghan, Jonny Gray, Josh Strauss, Greig Laidlaw, Adam Hastings, Chris Harris

England v Scotland: Odds and betting advice

England to win: 1/50
Draw: 10/1
Scotland to win 12/1

Tony Calvin: "There's an obvious risk this is a dead rubber, so I am looking elsewhere for my bet and I was very surprised to see Scotland at 7/1 with Sky Bet to win the 'race to 10 points'. I know it appears a bit of a muggy, guessy bet but in these circumstances I always ask myself "what price would I lay it at?" I didn’t get anywhere near 7/1, given the random nature of the bet."

England v Scotland: Key quotes

England defence coach John Mitchell: "Big Test matches and big Test match weeks require you to control your mentality. That's what the best teams in the world do.

"The best teams are able to control their emotions and their mentality and focus on the key aspects of the performance, making sure they don't get bored with the plan because you know you're going to absorb pressure at some point.

"Sometimes if you get distracted by external focuses it becomes mentally draining and can take the energy away from you, which is most important when you're in a game that's going to be as absorbing as it will be."

England number eight Billy Vunipola said: "The thought of doing a Grand Slam is unbelievably exciting. When you turn up at the game, I remember playing in that game against France and we were almost a little bit scared.

"That's understandable because there's so much pressure on you to produce. What will help Wales is that they're playing at home.

"We played our hand against Wales in round three and lost. We've accepted that now.

"It's unfortunate that we don't have power in our own hands, but the only thing we can control is trying to beat Scotland."

Scotland assistant coach Mike Blair: "I think spectators are aware that when our game clicks we can put any team under pressure. So we'll be working very hard to put these on to the pitch and put this England team under pressure.

"There have been good bits in different parts of the game. The massive thing is putting it all together. Not only in terms of minutes but in terms of the attack and the defence.

"We've had times when we've defended really well but not had that instinct to finish off in attack and likewise when our attack has gone a little bit better we've dropped off in defence. So trying to find that game that will put all the different bits together is absolutely key.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend: "We are defending the Calcutta Cup and it took a lot of work to win that back.

"It took 10 years, so we want to make sure we hold onto it for a bit longer.

"We can't really worry about (the fact no-one expects us to win). If no-one does think we're going to win, then that's fine.

"We believe we can win and that's what we're working to do this week. Scotland teams tend to be underdogs on a number of occasions and it usually brings the best out in them."