Ireland’s fortunes from here will ultimately decide the destination of the Six Nations title but the draw has opened up kindly for England to finish four from four provided they can clear a stumbling block that has proved insurmountable over the last few years.
The head coach is under renewed pressure as another Six Nations without genuinely tangible tournament success looms; for all the strides they have so clearly made under him, this gifted generation is still to gild their progress with anything other than a collection of Calcutta Cups.
Their recent record against the Scots was described this week in a newspaper column by former skipper Courtney Lawes as “embarrassing”; Maro Itoje, the current occupier of that role, would not quite use that term but the lock is clearly sick of Scottish success.
They have plans in place to shut down Russell – not once considering this week that he would not be featuring despite lingering head injury concerns – though know that the rest of the side will carve them apart if they overly focus upon the fly half.
In more than a century of Calcutta Cup conflict, Scottish hands have never held on to the silver spoils for longer than the 1,477 consecutive days they will have had possession by the time they take to the Twickenham turf on Saturday.
