Know-how from Lions tour can help beat England

By BRYN PALMER

SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend believes the insight his eight British & Irish Lions gained on last summer’s tour of South Africa can help upset England in their Six Nations opener at Murrayfield.

Townsend’s troops have won two and drawn one of their four previous encounters with Eddie Jones‘ side, including a first win at Twickenham for 38 years to launch last year’s Championship.

That controlled victory, and another memorable triumph over France in Paris to conclude the tournament, helped catapult eight Scots – Stuart Hogg, Duhan van der Merwe, Chris Harris, Finn Russell, Ali Price, Rory Sutherland, Zander Fagerson and Hamish Watson – into the Lions squad.

Townsend was also in the party as attack coach, alongside Scotland’s defence coach Steve Tandy and analyst Gavin Vaughan.

“With my knowledge and that of Steve and Gavin too, there is certainly insight to be gained by coaching the England players,” said the former fly-half. “But it is more the players themselves, having trained and played with these guys.

“They know what an individual player likes and doesn’t like to do. They are going to be talking with even more knowledge in meetings, saying ‘this is the best way to move this player’ and so on.

“So it should help in our preparations. Our players did well on that tour and they will hopefully bring that experience into these games.”

Scotland have traditionally thrived in the years after having a large representation on Lions tours, with their 1990 Grand Slam following a 1989 series win in Australia when Lions captain Finlay Calder was one of nine Scots. Townsend himself inspired the Scots to the final Five Nations title in 1999 after playing a key role in the Lions’ memorable series victory in South Africa in 1997.

Insight: Townsend

The likes of scrum-half Price, centre Harris and wing Van der Merwe appear to have an extra layer of confidence since their Lions experience, with Townsend already stating the forthcoming Championship is a “big opportunity” for his increasingly strong squad.

Scotland’s only defeat by England during his tenure came in farcical stormlashed conditions in Edinburgh two years ago, when the visitors prevailed 13-7 with a lone Ellis Genge try.

“I hope the weather is better than it was then and it’s a game of movement and speed – that’s the game we want to play,” added Townsend after naming a squad this week featuring five uncapped players including Saracens back rower Andy Christie and London Irish duo Kyle Rowe and Ben White.

“England have opened up their game a lot more and will be confident after what they did in November.”

With Manu Tuilagi sidelined and Owen Farrell’s planned comeback derailed by an injury picked up in Saracens training, Townsend insists Jones still has another strong alternative at 12.

“We watch Gloucester a lot with the Scottish lads there and Mark Atkinson is always outstanding,” he added. “He is one of the best centres in the Premiership.”