England make big Scotland Six Nations team call as Steve Borthwick goes early with XV

The Harlequins playmaker had an uncomfortable afternoon in an otherwise impressive English win over France in round two of the Six Nations. More accustomed to playing at fly-half, he lost the No 10 jersey to Fin Smith for the French game and the Northampton Saints man retains it for this weekend.

Head coach Steve Borthwick has made only one change to his starting XV, bringing in Ollie Chessum into the second row in place of George Martin, who has been managing a knee problem and drops to the bench.

It will be Chessum’s first start for England since last year’s Six Nations having been ruled out of the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand and the autumn series by shoulder and knee injuries. The 24-year-old made an impact as a replacement against Ireland and France.

England have not beaten Scotland since their 2020 win at Murrayfield and not defeated them at Twickenham since 2017 but go into the game on the back of the stirring 26-25 home victory over France. Steve Borthwick’s side, who lost to Ireland in their opener, are one point ahead of Scotland after two rounds.

“We are looking forward to what will be another challenging and exciting match against Scotland,” said the England coach who has opted to name his team early.

“The Calcutta Cup is a special fixture and we are determined to perform to our very best in front of our supporters at Allianz Stadium.”

Borthwick has gone with a six-two split of forwards and backs on the bench. Scotland will name their team on Thursday.

England team: M Smith (Harlequins); T Freeman (Northampton), O Lawrence (Bath), H Slade (Exeter), O Sleightholme (Northampton); F Smith (Northampton), A Mitchell (Northampton); E Genge (Bristol), L Cowan-Dickie (Sale), W Stuart (Bath), M Itoje (Saracens), O Chessum (Leicester), T Curry (Sale), B Earl (Saracens), T Willis (Saracens).

Replacements: J George (Saracens), F Baxter (Harlequins), J Heyes (Leicester), G Martin (Leicester), C Cunningham-South (Harlequins), B Curry (Sale), H Randall (Bristol), E Daly (Saracens).

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