England vs Scotland
6th February 1645hrs
Rugby – Scotland – Six Nations
Pick England -10 handicap
Bookmaker Bet365
Odds: 8/13 odds taken 13:13GMT, Thursday, 4th February
Reigning Six Nations champions England welcome Scotland to Twickenham to start their title defence on Saturday.
So this is a tricky opener in the Calcutta Cup for Eddie Jones’ champions, but they are the match’s outright favourites.
Is there a viable way into this tough away fixture for Scotland?
Table of Contents
England Preview – Will England lift the Calcutta Cup?
England will be looking for a positive start to their Six Nations 2021 campaign. They didn’t get one last season.
They lost in France in the first match of their campaign but did enough to follow up and still win the title on points difference over France.
England are strong favourites in the match outright to the tune of 2/15* (odds taken 13:13GMT, Thursday, 4th February).
This is the 150th anniversary of the first ever Calcutta Cup match and England haven’t lost at home against Scotland since 1983.
The overall head to head lead that England have against Scotland is 76-43.
This will be the fifth time that England have met Scotland on the opening weekend of a Championship.
England have won all four of those.
As we saw in last season’s competition and in the Autumn Nations Cup, England like to use their forward power.
They will likely just try and smash their way through Scotland.
It may not be the big explosive winning margin that England fans would hope.
So we wouldn’t look beyond an England -14 handicap at 10/11 odds and still, we think that’s slightly pushing it* (odds taken 13:13GMT, Thursday, 4th February).
England do have a terrific powerful and mobile pack but that is where Scotland will be focusing all their energy to shut down.
So we see a bit of a scrappy duel between the two old rivals up front.
Under 46.5 in the Points Total market looks a pretty solid call at 10/11 for Six Nations Rugby betting* (odds taken 13:13GMT, Thursday, 4th February).
We expect an England win. We don’t expect a huge one.
Scotland Preview – Scots without the the pressure at Twickenham
Scotland are turning up at Twickenham with no high pressure of expectancy on them.
In the Autumn Nations Cup, they suffered back to back losses against France and Ireland to end their campaign there.
Those were defeats by seven and fifteen points respectively.
Last season in the Six Nations Scotland claimed wins over Wales, France and Italy, which wasn’t enough to get them to the top half of the table.
They do have a promising partnership in the backs of Finn Russell and Cameron Redpath.
But still, this is a big away ask of Scotland.
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So we do expect Scotland to fall to defeat at Twickenham, but it’s worth looking at the margins.
England are fairly pragmatic in their approach and we saw from them in the Autumn Nations Cup that they are happy with that.
Scotland may be able to keep themselves to within a couple of scores of the hosts.
But Scotland have won just three of their opening 21 matches in the Six Nations.
England vs Scotland Betting Advice
An England win is going to be expected. Their pack looks to be in good shape and pretty tireless and relentless.
So they should grind the defence of Scotland down well enough in the end.
We are going to play for an England 1-12 winning margin in the game at 13/8* (odds taken 13:13GMT, Thursday, 4th February).
Key Facts – Scotland vs England Betting Tip
- Scotland have won 3 of 21 Six Nations opening matches
- Scotland haven’t won at Twickenham since 1983
- England are the reigning Six Nations champions
We just think that it is all about the result for England, more so than the performance.
The England -14 looks a little unplayable so conservatively the England -10 handicap option is there at 8/13* (odds taken 13:13GMT, Thursday, 4th February).
At the end of the day, there is probably going to be just a big tussle between the packs and little more.
England’s Owen Farrell can keep the scoreboard ticking over for the hosts and keep their opponents at arm’s length.
The best betting odds for Scotland vs England
Scotland to win: 13/2 at Bet365
Draw: 33/1 at Bet365
England to win: 1/9 at Bet365
