SIX NATIONS:Scotland captain Mike Blair has been named in the side for Saturday's Six Nations Calcutta Cup encounter against an unchanged England side that crushed France 34-10 last weekend.
Blair has been suffering from a back injury suffered in the weekend's 22-15 defeat to Ireland at Murrayfield, but the Edinburgh scrumhalf has recovered sufficiently for head coach Frank Hadden to pick him in a team which shows just one change.
Northampton flanker Scott Gray makes his first Test start since his debut four-and-a-half years ago. The 31-year-old replaces John Barclay, who has been dropped from the 22 altogether.
Barclay's Glasgow team-mate Kelly Brown comes in for Gray on the bench.
Hadden said: "Scott has been knocking on the door for some time now and deserves this opportunity, while we've gone for Kelly on the bench for the coverage that he provides.
"We're looking forward to going to Twickenham and seeking back-to-back Calcutta Cup wins for the first time since 1984."
England manager Martin Johnson, who named an unchanged side for the Twickenham clash despite injury concerns over outhalf Toby Flood and flanker Joe Worsley, said today he has no sympathy for a struggling Scotland side with “a chip on their shoulder”.
The World Cup winner is bullish after watching England rediscover some form with an emphatic 34-10 victory over France.
With second place up for grabs, Johnson has demanded his men improve on their France performance to prevent the first Scottish win at Twickenham for 26 years.
“I have no sympathy for them at the moment. We have to look after ourselves,” said Johnson, who never lost to Scotland in 10 years as a player.
“They will come down here desperate to win. They will regard themselves as underdogs and have that chip on their shoulder. It will make them difficult to beat.
“They haven’t won at Twickenham for a while. It will be a big thing for them if they win.
“Our motivation as a team has got to be to improve our performance from last week. You never say ‘same again’. You want to get better.
“There is a big improvement to come out of us.”
Flood damaged his shoulder just before half-time in England’s win over France last Sunday and Worsley required six stitches to a nasty gash to his hand.
Johnson had placed Olly Barkley and Tom Rees on standby earlier in the week as the pair continued to receive treatment but today named the same starting squad which breathed life into England’s campaign at Twickenham.
The last time England fielded the same 22 in consecutive Tests was against Australia and France in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the 2007 World Cup.
England team:D Armitage; U Monye, M Tindall, R Flutey, M Cueto; T Flood, H Ellis; A Sheridan, L Mears, P Vickery, S Borthwick (C), S Shaw, T Croft, J Worsley, N Easter. Replacements: D Hartley, J White, J Haskell, N Kennedy, D Care, A Goode, M Tait.
Scotland team:C Paterson; S Danielli, M Evans, G Morrison, T Evans; P Godman, M Blair (C); 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
