Scotland have underperformed and England confidence is soaring but Calcutta Cup may be horses for courses

There are all sorts of reasons. My late father-in-law used to say that Ireland were Scotland's "bogey" team, no matter where the match was played. The last ten years has proved him right.

Difficult to say why, even though Ireland have been very good for the last ten years. Nevertheless they've lost to England, France and Wales, but not to Scotland. Is it all in the head, as I suggested last week?

Then take Twickenham where we play on Saturday. For years we never won there. There were some close games. In 1955 when we lost 9-6. Tom Elliiot, grandfather of the young England fly-half Fin Smith, believed he had scored under the posts, but in the absence of video refs, no try was awarded. We beat England sometimes at Murrayfield but had to wait till 1971 to win at Twickenham, first time since 1938.

Things are strangely different today. I say 'strangely' because for anyone of my generation, our recent record against England is hard to believe.

As a player Gregor Townsend was only once on the winning side against England. As a coach his record is remarkable. In the last seven years it runs: Scotland 5, England 1, 1 draw. Only half-a dozen coaches - Welsh, New Zealand, South African - have a better record.

In this time England have beaten all the other Six Nations countries, at Twickenham, and also away. Now we have that fine recently retired England captain Courtney Lawes, writing in The Times, and saying, England's record against Scotland since 2018 "should really hurt". And why not? Last season England went to Dublin and beat Ireland. They beat France at Twickenham two weeks ago, a fine performance, even if you think that the French did an awful lot to lose a game they seemed to be winning comfortably. But England, to their credit, kept their heads, stuck to it, and won. Their confidence should be soaring. They should look at Scotland's disappointing show against Ireland and say, "this time, why not?"

Well, while this Scotland team clearly has doubts when they play Ireland - even though they might not admit to this, they have no reason to feel like that when they see England lining up against them. They will respect them, certainly, but they should be free of the gnawing anxiety they seem to feel when the green shirts of Ireland confront them. At Murrayfield two weeks ago they got off to a dismal start, and, though they improved, they never quite got fully into the match. The clash of heads between Finn Russell and Darcy Graham obviously didn't help, and though the final score was quite respectable, the performance wasn't. Indeed it was a sad disappointment.

The question - indeed the test - is whether they can put this behind them, and be both resolute and daring. They haven't done themselves justice in the first two rounds of the tournament. Victory at Twickenham would put them on the way again, with a home match against Wales, and then a visit to Paris to come. It can still be a memorable tournament, if they are right in the head. Horses for courses? Finn Russell & Co have taken a liking to Twickenham, with a record there to be proud of.

Victory would be another notch on the record.