England must ‘play smart’ against Scotland, says centre Twelvetrees
Billy Twelvetrees believes playing a "smart" game will be the key to getting England's Six Nations campaign back on track when they face Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday.
Billy Twelvetrees believes playing a "smart" game will be the key to getting England's Six Nations campaign back on track when they face Scotland in Edinburgh.
Both teams will be even more desperate for victory than usual following first weekend defeats, with England losing out to a late try in a 26-24 defeat by France in Paris and Scotland well beaten 28-6 away to Ireland.
However, form can often go out of the window in the Calcutta Cup, where raw passion and thundering physical effort are a given - especially when, as is the case this weekend, the fixture is at Scotland's Murrayfield base.
We are fully aware of what [Scotland] are going to bring to the game. We've looked at how we can nullify that and assert ourselves
But England centre Twelvetrees said playing with heads as well as hearts would decide who won the latest edition of rugby union's oldest international fixture.
And the Gloucester playmaker was adamant England could still follow the example of Six Nations champions Wales, who won last season's tournament despite an opening day defeat by Ireland.
"We still have massive belief we can win the title," Twelvetrees said as England coach Stuart Lancaster named an unchanged 23.
"We're bitterly disappointed to lose our first game, but we've got four games in front of us that we want to win.