Matt Scott wants to deliver a get well card to his mate Alex Dunbar with a historic Twickenham victory but has warned about letting emotions getting the better of Scotland today.
The 24-year-old Dunfermline-born centre takes the place of the cruelly unlucky Dunbar, who ruptured the ACL joint in his left knee in light training just an hour before the team were due to fly to London for today’s RBS 6 Nations Calcutta Cup match.
While gutted for his friend and regular playing partner in the Scottish midfield, Scott is acutely aware that he’s been offered the chance to reclaim his national team place after the frustrations of missing out after a long break for shoulder surgery.
Like David Denton, also returning to the starting team, Scott’s last start was in the 53-3 rout in Cardiff in the championship but it’s the memory of last year’s Calcutta Cup game which hurts the most.
“There are one or two points to prove, you could say that,” he said yesterday at the Scotland team hotel on the banks of the Thames. “The England game last year was horrible to look back on and we have watched clips this week.
“I took that defeat really badly, it was probably the worst one of my career, I remember the embarrassment of it all and it has been used as motivation this week.”
Scott believes if anything the Scots got over-emotional going into that game rather than stay focused on the structures and the jobs they all had to do individually.
“We were all over the place,” he recalled. “There was poor execution of kicks, poor decision-making, it just looked really disjointed.
“I remember the boys being so fired up for that game and it’s funny how we just completely went to pieces. We had boys with tears in their eyes in the dressing room before the game.
“It was an emotionally charged affair, but it’s a professional sport and it’s about cool heads.
There’s a fine line and we certainly crossed it in the wrong way last year, it’s about drip feeding that passion.”
As for his friend Dunbar, Scott believes Scotland can channel the emotion from his loss.
“I was pretty close to him when it happened and it was the most innocuous thing,” he continued.
“I am pretty sure it will be tough for him to watch knowing that he was meant to be playing in it. It would be a massive get-well-soon present for him if we can bring home the Calcutta Cup.
“We seen this a lot in pro rugby with guys getting long term injuries, tt sounds quite cold-hearted but it is part of the job
“We want to do well for him, but we don’t need any extra motivation to come down here and play well. If you are involved in these games, and I have been lucky enough to be involved in a couple, it is an amazing sporting occasion and need no motivation to get up for it.”
Scott feels he is back to his best after scoring two tries for Edinburgh against Treviso last week, but is only too aware that England are an altogether more formidable proposition.
“I had a great run of starting a lot of games for Scotland and I was very lucky to do that,” he said. “Then you get a bad injury and it takes a while to get back to where you were. “It was great to get 80 minutes for Edinburgh last week. You need to play rugby and I play so much better as a starter.
“It will be different from last week, it’s a massive step up, but I feel I am ready for it.”
Scotland will go into the Twickenham with no fear, despite the weight of history against them.
“I don’t worry about this game, I use our record at Twickenham as motivation. We could write ourselves into the history books tomorrow.
“We don’t want to be where we are, and we know what we have to do. We want to get a win for ourselves and for the nation and where better a place to do it.
“What is there to be scared of?”