Scots aim for strong finish

BBC Sports - Saturday, March 21, 2009 10:18 AM

SCOTLAND head coach Frank Hadden says assessing his side's Six Nations campaign should be delayed until after Saturday's (Sunday Fiji Time) match against England.

The Scots face the English with only one win so far in the current Six Nations, and looking for their first win at Twickenham since 1983.

"The time for reflection is after it's over," Hadden told BBC Scotland.

"At the moment we have no thoughts of looking back - it's only about focusing on what's happening this weekend."

Scotland lost to France, Wales and Ireland before arresting their slide with victory over Wooden Spoon contenders Italy.

A win in the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham would see the Scots achieve the 40% winning ratio set by the Scottish Rugby Union.

And the Scots will be aiming to emulate last year's 15-9 victory over England at Murrayfield.

"We've made some progress during the Six Nations and we're determined to go out with a big performance," said Hadden.

"It's not about producing for anyone in particular, it's about producing for ourselves and for the country. That's the most important thing - to get a win for the country.

"We don't win at Twickenham very often; it's a huge opportunity to win back-to-back Calcutta Cups.

"We're the current holders and we're going to hang on to it with a really tremendous and determined, committed performance."

"I think everybody finds Twickenham a hard place to go, and so it should be."

Hadden has made one change to his starting line-up with Scott Gray, who scored a try in the win over Italy, replacing John Barclay at flanker.

Captain Mike Blair has overcome a back problem to take his place at scrum-half while Alasdair Strokosch and Thom Evans have also been passed fit.

Hadden said he was confident Scotland would provide a stiff test for Martin Johnson's side, but admitted it would be difficult.

"With the size of their resources and the quality of the preparation they've had this time, we're aware of the size of the challenge.

"But it doesn't mean to say we can't do something special for the long-suffering fans this weekend."

ENGLAND: D Armitage; M Cueto, M Tindall, R Flutey, U Monye; T Flood, H Ellis; A Sheridan, L Mears, P Vickery, S Borthwick (capt), S Shaw, T Croft, J Worsley, N Easter.
Replacements: D Hartley, J White, N Kennedy, J Haskell, D Care, A Goode, M Tait.

SCOTLAND: C Paterson; S Danielli, M Evans, G Morrison, T Evans; P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Dickinson, R Ford, E Murray, J White, J Hamilton, A Strokosch, S Gray, S Taylor.
Replacements: D Hall, M Low, N Hines, K Brown, C Cusiter, N De Luca, H Southwell.
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa).