England centre Lawrence and Scotland fly-half Russell are team-mates at Bath but are set to face off at Twickenham in round three of the Six Nations a week on Saturday.
England meet up again at their Bagshot base on Wednesday on a high after Saturday’s 26-25 win over France knowing, with Italy and Wales to come, a win over Scotland keeps them in the Six Nations title hunt.
Their string of narrow defeats in 2024, plus the 27-22 opening defeat to Ireland, were starting to grate and Lawrence insists the French win has given the squad belief if they keep their foot on the gas.
"They have to make tough decisions, sometimes it'll work for them, as they're both great players, but hopefully we can put pressure on him and shut him down as much as we can.” Russell is expected to be fit after going off after 21 minutes of Scotland’s 32-18 defeat by Ireland.
Scotland will arrive at Twickenham as Calcutta Cup holders and have had a jinx over England having not lost to them since 2020 but Steve Borthwick’s side have finally got a monkey off their back.
