England play Scotland for the 129th time at Eden Park today and the stakes have never been higher than for this World Cup Pool B showdown.
With Argentina odds-on to get the quarter-final qualifying points they need against Georgia the following day, it is either England or Scotland who will likely be starting to pack their bags for the journey home after they meet.
Following the agonizing 13-12 loss to Argentina last weekend, Scotland must win, and win handsomely, if they want to maintain their record of always reaching the last eight of rugby’s top competition.
Photo: AFP
The reward for a Scotland upset win would probably be a matchup against the All Blacks back at Eden Park on Oct. 9.
England will be looking for a fourth straight win to set up a quarter-final match with France and they have already made it clear no mercy will be shown to Scotland.
The two sides have only met once before in the World Cup when England won 9-6 in the semi-finals of the 1991 tournament.
It will also be the first time they have played at a neutral venue since they took part in the very first rugby international played in Edinburgh in 1871.
Scotland’s players know they have to produce the performance of a lifetime if they are to have any chance of ruining England’s hopes of a second World Cup victory.
“There’s everything to play for. They’ll be coming out fighting and it’s a classic Scotland-England derby — here we go again,” said Scotland’s Sean Lamont, who switches from the wing to inside center. “We know the job we need to do, but it’s still a lot of pressure. None of the boys are ready to go home yet. None of them. It’s not a pile of points. Eight points, we need, it’s not a massive difference. England can leak tries and they’ve shown in this tournament that they can concede, so there’s no reason why we can’t get a few points against them.”
Scotland coach Andy Robinson, who formerly coached England, has brought in six new players for the match, with the captaincy reverting to lock Alastair Kellock, who missed out on the Argentina game.
Also back in are Joe Ansbro, who lines up with Lamont at center, and prop Euan Murray, who was not considered for the Pumas game as he opts not to play on Sundays because of his religious beliefs.
Mike Blair gets the start at scrumhalf in place of Rory Lawson, Simon Danielli comes in on the wing in place of Lamont and Richie Vernon is at No. 8 in place of Kelly Brown.
England show three changes to the side that overwhelmed Romania 67-3 in their last match.
Matt Stevens, Courtney Lawes and Delon Armitage come in for Alex Corbisiero, Tom Palmer and Mark Cueto. The first two drop to the bench, while Cueto has been left out of the match-day 22.
Johnson has experienced the special atmosphere of England-Scotland games many times himself as a player and he says he knows exactly what to expect from Scotland.
“It’s the oldest international in the world. There’s a lot of history there, you grow up watching the game, but that’s all for the build-up in the exterior,” Johnson said. “For us, it’s about going out and playing well, doesn’t matter if it’s Scotland or whoever it may be, you’ve just got to go out and perform. If we get it wrong, there’s a chance we could be sitting at home by Tuesday.”
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