'There's an edge': Scotland told to embrace record-breaking England clash

Saturday’s latest instalment will be especially noteworthy as it will be played in front of a record crowd. As of Thursday, more than 28,000 tickets had been sold for the Murrayfield clash.

The one-sided nature of this fixture means that anything other than an away win would represent one of sport’s biggest upsets but Fukofuka wants his players to embrace the occasion.

He made a winning start to his Scotland tenure against Wales in Cardiff last week but feels there is plenty room for improvement, particularly around the attack and lineout. In truth, it will need to be a whole lot better against the world champions who come north as overwhelming favourites to win the Women’s Six Nations for the eighth year in a row

Change at centre

Fukofuka said the preparations felt a bit different this week. “Yeah, I'm not going to lie, there's an edge, absolutely,” said the coach. “Last week, there was a slightly different prep in terms of the emotional rivalry that exists between Wales and Scotland. This one, the edge is around performance.

“We know that we need to be at our best to compete and perform against a team like England. And that's exciting, because the standard that the players hold for themselves is high anyway. It's just that little edge to the week, which has come out in a few more questions, just around making sure they've got their detail right. And today [Thursday] was sharp, it was nice. It was good to see them really rolling through.”

Fukofuka has made one enforced change to the Scotland starting side, with Evie Wills coming in for Emma Orr at outside centre after replacing her during the second half in Cardiff. Orr will miss the remainder of the Six Nations with a knee injury she sustained against Wales and is due to have a surgical consultation this week.

There are also returns to the squad for flanker Rachel McLachlan and winger Fran McGhie who are on the bench after recovering from calf and shoulder injuries. Eva Donaldson drops out.

Scotland have lost 28 times in a row against England and have not beaten them since 1999 but Fukofuka has urged his squad to tap into the occasion.

“The message is performance,” he said. “We have an opportunity. We have 30,000 Scottish fans coming to Murrayfield to support us, so we really want to use that energy, use that support to go out there and express ourselves. We want to perform, we want to play to the potential that we have.

“What we've spoken about is just embracing the occasion, understanding that we're very lucky to have the opportunity to have that many people support us and to play in Murrayfield and use that to uplift. There's no weight on our shoulders.

“Obviously, there's a level of expectation that we bring, but we also know that the crowd is there to support us.”

How Scotland will line up at Murrayfield

Scotland Women (v England, Women’s Six Nations, Murrayfield, Saturday, 1.30pm)

15. Chloe Rollie; 14. Rhona Lloyd, 13. Evie Wills, 12. Meryl Smith, 11. Shona Campbell; 10. Helen Nelson, 9. Leia Brebner-Holden; 1. Leah Bartlett, 2. Lana Skeldon, 3. Elliann Clarke, 4. Emma Wassell, 5. Hollie Cunningham, 6. Rachel Malcolm (capt), 7. Alex Stewart, 8. Emily Coubrough. Replacements: 16. Elis Martin, 17. Demi Swann, 18. Molly Poolman, 19. Holland Bogan, 20. Rachel McLachlan, 21. Rianna Darroch, 22. Lucia Scott, 23. Francesca McGhie.