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Martin Johnson’s England side take on Scotland on Saturday knowing that a win would secure their passage through to the quarter finals.
The pool stages of the rugby World Cup are nearing their climax, with both England and Scotland going head to head on Saturday in their Pool B showdown which will leave one team joyous at qualifying for the knockout stages and the other heartbroken at missing out on the party.
Scotland need to claim a victory at Eden Park in Auckland by eight points or more in order to deprive England of a crucial bonus point. If that happens and Argentina breeze past Georgia as expected, then Johnson’s side could be facing a humiliating exit and their worst ever performance at the World Cup.
England appear to have turned a corner after two sluggish performances against Argentina and Georgia which drew more than their fair share of criticism with a much improved display against Romania.
But with torrential rain expected and a fired up Scotland side as opponents it is unlikely to be another try fest for England, with the boot of Jonny Wilkinson likely to dominate instead.
Scotland head coach Andy Robinson appears to have gone all out for the win if his team selection is anything to go by, naming an extremely attacking team that will look to break a two game try drought.
Ruaridh Jackson has been named to start at fly half with Mike Blair replacing stand in captain Rory Lamont at scrum half.
There are also plenty of changes in the back line, with Simon Danielli and Max Evans on the wings and Joe Ansbro and Sean Lamont in midfield hoping to score the points that will put them through at their fierce rivals expense.
England have made three changes for the game, with Matt Stevens, Courtney Lawes and Delon Armitage coming in for Alex Corbisiero, Tom Palmer and Mark Cueto, the latter ousted despite picking up a hat-trick against Romania.
They will be without assistant coach Dave Alred and fitness coach Paul Stridgeon who have been banned for the hgame having been found guilty of replacing balls before conversion attempts with new balls despite rules saying the kick must be completed with the same ball that the try had been scored with.
The two teams have only met at the World Cup once before back in 1991, with England emerging victorious 9-6 in the semi-finals of the tournament before losing to Australia in the final.
Despite England’s historic dominance over Scotland, Andy Robinson’s side have a good record in recent years when the sides have met away from Twickenham, with their victory at Murrayfield in 2004 the last team an England side emerged victorious against their rivals away from their home ground.
Match Winner
With so much at stake it comes as little surprise that the match winner market is a tight affair, although BlueSQ have England as 1.17 (1/6) favourites to come through the game unscathed, perhaps not the most generous odds in the world.
SportingBet are offering 6.50 (11/2) on a Scottish victory, and Paddy Power are offering the same odds on the Scots winning and qualifying for the quarter finals.
The draw is at 34.00 (33/1) with Bet365.
Anytime Try Scorer
In what is expected to be a tight and tetchy affair, it is unlikely we will see too many tries in Saturday’s game. England warmed up nicely for the showdown with an easy win against Romanian which provided a perfect run out for their backline, and with Chris Ashton claiming a hat-trick to become the tournament’s leading try scorer, and backing him to touch down first with BlueSQ returns odds of 9.00 (8/1), a bet well worth considering.
Scotland haven’t scored a try for two games now but they did worry England the last time they met in the 6 Nations, and Max Evans is the leading Scottish favourite to open the scoring at 15.00 (14/1) with BetFred. Manu Tuilagi is certainly worth considering as the first try scorer; the Leicester Tiger’s centre has picked up four tries in his five games for England and is yet to end up on the losing side. He’s at 13.00 (12/1) also with BetFred.
Recommended Bets
Chris Ashton, first try scorer: 9.00 (8/1 ) @ BlueSQ
England to win by a margin of between 6 and 10 points: 6.00 (5/1) @ Coral
