England vs. Scotland Betting Tips: Scotland to make it tough in Six Nations clash

The Steve Borthwick era begins for England in a blockbuster clash with ancient rivals Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon. The Red Rose are 1/3 favourites for the Calcutta Cup but Scotland in recent times have had their higher profile neighbours number in these clashes. We are expecting a tight game and Billy Grimshaw is here for a full game preview...

With the potential for England to need time to adjust to the new methods of their coaching staff and to build partnerships between new players, backing Scotland with a 10 point start, especially considering they have won 4 of the last 5 Calcutta Cups, makes plenty of appeal.

Steve Borthwick has even told his troops to expect 'minimal preparations' from the coaching team and has urged caution to fans expecting miracles in game one. They will be hoping to build into both this game and the tournament and although they are certainly the more likely victors, we expect this to be a tight affair until the very end.

The Scots were quietly fancied by many last tournament and flattered to deceive, but this season attention is firmly on the favourites which could suit Scotland. With Finn Russell anything can happen and Scotland arguably were in winning positions against Australia and New Zealand recently before wilting so will have plenty of confidence they can stay in the game against big name rivals.

Sticking to the theory that England could be slow out of the blocks, there must be some value in backing Scotland to open the scoring. There are plenty of markets for team to score the first points or even the first try, but the market I am heading for is the ever popular first try-scorer market.

Paddy Power and Betfair are offering each way terms (3 places 1/4 odds) which I'll be taking advantage of here when backing Scottish star Duhan van der Merwee to score the first 5 pointer of the game.

Van der Merwee has been an injury doubt for this game for sometime but the noises coming out of Scotland's camps are positive that their wing extraordinaire will be fighting fit to kick off the Six Nations.

The Edinburgh winger scored five tries in 10 games for Scotland in 2022, a decent return, and is arguably hitting his prime years now so will be eager to maintain or improve that strike rate for his national team.

He could be facing up to and England debutant on the opposite wing and as his team's main try-scoring outlet expect him to get plenty of the ball as Scotland aim to start quick. Back van der Merwee to kick things off for Scotland in the Six Nations and to quieten the Twickenham faithful early doors.