Scots are prepared for the deluge

Six Nations / England v Scotland: Rarely, if ever, has a Calcutta Cup game threatened to be so one-sided.

Another free-wheeling away win would certainly set up Clive Woodward's team perfectly for their next two fixtures at home to Ireland and Wales, but they may yet have to fit some wet-weather tyres on their sweet chariot today. Yesterday's training run revealed a suspiciously damp playing surface and England's management smelt a sodden rat.

Although it has rained intermittently in the Lothians this week, the obvious assumption is that Scotland are trying to produce the slowest possible track in an effort to stop England's speedsters from causing the same damage they did in beating Italy 50-9 in Rome last Sunday.

The official explanation from Murrayfield's ground staff is that the soft going is a result of melted frost over recent days, but Woodward wore a knowing smile.

"There's obviously been a lot of rain in Scotland," he replied archly, adding that "somebody's obviously concerned" about the pace England possess on hard, fast grounds. With the weather forecast predicting dry conditions for the game, it will be intriguing to see whether the turf dries out at all before kick-off.

Inevitable comparisons with 2000, when England's grand slam ambitions were sluiced away, have nevertheless been brushed off by Woodward. "Believe it or not it rained before the year 2000," he said tersely yesterday, stressing that England are a more flexible, experienced unit these days. As France can also testify, Woodward's current team are pretty useful in the wet, too.

So if Scotland are to avoid a 14th defeat in 15 games against England, they need to heed the words of their Northampton prop, Tom Smith. "We can't rely on a wet day or them playing badly, we need to up our own performance," said Smith.

Short of a biblical flood, therefore, it is hard not to visualise England marching in tries two by two. Even if Scott Murray poaches more than his fair share of lineout possession and Sale's athletic Chris Jones, starting for the first time, does not pluck quite as much ball out of the skies as England hope, it may still not be enough to stem the tide given the less-than-obvious penetrative qualities of the Scottish back line.

More worrying still for Scotland's coach Matt Williams, as he seeks to iron out the teething problems in the new defensive systems he has introduced, is that England are convinced they will perform even more smoothly than in Rome.

As Woodward noted, however, Scotland do at least have one thing in their favour. "They've got everything to gain and nothing to lose. It's very easy coaching a team of underdogs against the best team in the world."

SCOTLAND: Hinshelwood; Danielli, Philip, Laney, Webster; Paterson (capt), Cusiter; Smith, Bulloch, B Douglas, Murray, Grimes, White, Mather, Taylor. Replacements: Russell, Kerr. Hines, Hogg, Blair, Parks, Henderson.

ENGLAND: Balshaw; Lewsey, Greenwood, Robinson, Cohen; Grayson, Gomarsall; Woodman, Thompson, Vickery, Grewcock, Kay, Jones, Hill, Dallaglio (capt). Replacements: Regan, Leonard, Shaw, Sanderson, Dawson, Barkley, Paul.

Referee: P Deluca (Argentina).

Twickenham, 5.30, On TV: Net 2, BBC 1