Scott Johnson doesn’t want to hear that Scotland have nothing to lose heading for the ground where they haven’t won for 30 years.
The Scots’ last win at Twickenham was in 1983 and in naming his first team as interim head coach probably not a million miles away from the team his predecessor Andy Robinson would have chosen given current form and injuries, plus intervening retirements Johnson cheerfully admitted his own record against England at ‘HQ’ as a coach was “appalling”.
“We have got plenty of loses,” he stressed. “We want to give a performance that people are proud of. There will be 70-80,000 people watching it live and so many million people around the world.
“The scoreboard will look after itself if we give a good performance but we’ve got plenty to lose, first in what we stand for and it’s just as important for us to put in a display as it is for (England).”
Johnson has given a first cap to Sean Maitland and there was a clear indication he would have given another to centre Peter Horne had the former Howe of Fife player not suffered a thumb injury.
His main moves are to re-instate Johnnie Beattie, who had been deep in Robinson’s doghouse, the widely anticipated decision to put Greig Laidlaw to scrum-half and to give another shot to Ruaridh Jackson atfly-half.
Up front, Ross Ford is not deemed ready to return despite being fit, having missed five weeks with a shoulder problem, so Dougie Hall gets his first start for six years, having made as many as 20 replacement appearances in the interim.
It’s maybe not entirely surprising that interim forwards coach Dean Ryan has gone for two of his former charges at Gloucester, Jim Hamilton and Alasdair Strokosch, but in addition Glasgow prop Ryan Grant, on the verge of quitting just a couple of seasons ago when surplus to requirements at Edinburgh, has been given a huge vote of confidence by being named vice- captain.
Horne “wasn’t ready to go,” said Johnson, which means Matt Scott and Sean Lamont form a heavy-hitting midfield.
“It’s a great sign of maturity in that he made the call himself,” said Johnson of Horne. He’s a special lad and wanted to give it a crack and it says a lot about him because it was an opportunity he’d have loved to have had.”
For Beattie, Johnson couldn’t ignore the way he’s been playing for Montpellier.
“It’s what he’s done this year,” he said.
“I watched John as a youngster playing for Scotland under-19s at Aberavon some years ago and said at the time he was a very, very good player then.
“I wondered what had happened to him and watched him closely for the last six months. To hold down a place in a top club, in a very strong competition in a very competitive position shows what his form is.
“He can do things that other players can’t. You look at our forward pack, he helps us have good balance.”
Ford starting on the bench is “ideal for Ross” and the former skipper has a very big part to play in the campaign ahead.
“Dougie’s form has been really good, and Ross hasn’t played for a substantial period of time,” added Johnson. “You’re not guaranteed a jersey in life and nor should you be.
“Ross is a great player and we’re happy to have him back to some sort of state to play test footy.”
The decision to restore Laidlaw to his natural position after 10 successive starts at 10 was not unexpected, and perhaps is where Johnson feels that Scotland “can be a little bit different”.
“Greig’s skill-set is typically French really, he can do the 9-10-goalkicking role. If we get that right that’s a big value added to us.
“He’s a really smart rugby player, clever, a good leader and we see this as the start of a journey for him where he’s a nine/10.
“This is just the first step and it might not be perfect but he’s a bright kid, a tough kid, and I like coaching him, which is a good start.”
Johnson had not heard Jim Telfer’s comments describing the English as arrogant, but had no problem with it.
“Provocative, eh?” he laughed. “I’m the last person to question anyone for having an opinion but they’re not representative of mine.
“We won’t be talking about it, if they (England) are, that’s their issue, not ours. They don’t need motivation. They’re called test matches for a reason, it’s a test of character, test of skills, a test all over.
“Do you really need to pump anyone up more, really, seriously?”