SCOTLAND assistant coach Nathan Hines believes that England could find the pressure of going for a record 18th consecutive Test win “paralysing” when the sides meet at Twickenham on Saturday.
Victory over Italy in their last Six Nations Championship outing made it 17 wins in a row for Eddie Jones’s side, just one short of the All Blacks’ record for a leading international side. Lifting the Calcutta Cup then completing another Grand Slam by defeating Ireland would therefore make England sole record-holders with 19 wins - but Hines can recall from his own playing days in France when a winning streak became a burden.
“When I was at Clermont we had a run of 77 wins in a row at home,” he said yesterday. “That is a burden sometimes. The pressure of ‘Am I going to be part of the team that loses this record?’ – that can be paralysing at times.
“You went into a game thinking ‘I don’t want to be a part of that team’. My experience was that you knew there was more expectation, more pressure. You knew a loss was probably coming, but you didn’t know when.”
The pressure on England in their last outing came largely from the Italians’ opting not to contest the ruck – a tactic that meant they could swarm around the breakdown instead of observing the usual offside line, and that left Dylan Hartley and colleagues scratching their heads for the first half. Hines declined to explain precisely how Scotland will contest the breakdown, although the fact that England eventually learned to deal with the Italians’ ploy is likely to mean it will not be used consistently by anyone else for a while.
“As for how many men we put in, I don’t know,” the assistant coach said. “The thing that Italy did, it forces coaches and players to think differently at the breakdown.
“So well done to Italy for chucking that in the mix. Now it forces every other team to say: ‘Well, if this happens, what are we going to do about it?’ That’s not a bad thing.
“It’s a surprising plan, obviously. More surprising for England than anyone else.
“But I think they sorted it out. They obviously know the rule now – so that’s good.
“This is what happens when people try to push the laws: they find a little loophole people weren’t aware of. It then gets tidied up and teams are wise to it.”
Scotland have won at Twickenham since 1983, but there is one member of the current squad who has a 100 per cent record there thanks to a victory eight years ago in the English Schools Cup final. And Huw Jones is sure that winning that match can help him prepare for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash, even if he was just a teenage scrum-half back then.
“I played in the 2009 Under-15 Cup final for Millfield against Judd School from Tonbridge,” the centre said yesterday. “We got a good win.
“I didn’t manage to get on the score sheet. I was playing scrum-half, and I’ve got the medal at home somewhere.
“It’s an exciting opportunity.
“Breaking these small records definitely has an effect. It gives you more belief as you go on that you can keep going and breaking these runs,” Jones added.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here