Scotland vs England: Old Rivals Battle for the Calcutta Cup

The second match of the Guinness Six Nations 2022 will see England travel up to Scotland to face the auld enemy at Murrayfield on the 5th of February at 16:45. Fans of yesteryear would have thought a Scotland-England match would have been the closest thing to a guaranteed win for the English XV, but the Scots have proven themselves as no pushover in modern rugby. Will this be another training exercise for the team of the rose or will England leave the holy ground of rugby for the Scottish with their tails between their legs?

The Odds for Scotland v England 2022 Six Nations

In the table below you will be able to find the latest odds for the winner of this 2022 Six Nations match:

Scotland v England: Team Previews and Injuries

Any sports betting veteran will start by taking a look at the two teams playing before deciding on any wager. Are the sides using their best players or resting them? Are there any crucial injuries of which you need to be aware? Games can be won and lost in advance from star players having broken an arm in a Premiership match the week before they are meant to don the national shirt, so this is an important factor for consideration.

Although the Six Nations is a week away, we do have an idea of how both Scotland and England are coping and how it effects the betting odds, so let's take a look at this vital factor of rugby.

Scotland Team News

Scotland rugby fans will be jumping for joy, going into their first match, as they currently have no injury concerns for their main squad. This is unlikely to change in training in the run-up, but fingers will certainly be crossed that the team keeps at full strength going into this crunch match.

England Team News

England have not been so lucky on the injury front. Even with an extensive squad of replacements, they would be remiss not to consider the effect that missing some of their star players will have on the overall game.

• Owen Farrell: The England captain suffered an ankle injury in England's 32-15 win against Australia on the 13th November, with only 12 minutes left in the game. With surgery having been on the cards, England fans will be chewing their fingernails to see if the seasoned fly-half will be back in time. With Farrell potentially out though, this does leave room for young buck Marcus Smith to show what he's made off, if Eddie Jones does not select George Ford as his starter.
• Jamie George: Arguably England's best hooker, the front row will be sorely missed from the Forward pack with an injury that raises doubts about whether he will be fit for the Six Nations. It is looking that if he will play at all, he will likely start from the bench in his first match, to save him doing significant further damage to his knee.
• Manu Tuilagi: Fans of rugby will revere Tuilagi's name, but know that he has become ever more injury prone as his career has progressed. With another hamstring calamity picked up whilst finding the try line in the Autumn Internationals revenge match against South Africa, he becomes the third doubtful for this match.
• Harry Williams: The England prop may not be a huge part of the England set-up, given his 19 caps, but an operated elbow for the front-rower will certainly leave fans bitter and wondering if set pieces will work effectively against a healthy Scotland pack. With any luck, the Exeter Chiefs' favourite may make it make for the latter stages of the competition, to give the men in white the boost they need.

Previous Five Head-to-Head Results

Previous form may not always be the perfect predictor for a match - especially when teams decide to overhaul their squad to bring through younger talent - but they still provide good insight into broad patterns of how games can go. With that in mind, we will take a look at the previous head-to-head matches in the Calcutta Cup.

Two wins a piece and a draw would suggest a fairly even game - especially given the equal record of home and away wins. It may then be best to look at recent form.

Recent Form

The above results point to a general pattern of what could happen, but for a much more accurate representation, you are better off looking at more recent matches.

Below you will find the last five results for England and Scotland respectively.

Scotland Results

England Results

Scotland's last five matches have been fairly impressive, having notched up four wins even against the likes of France and Australia. A drumming by South Africa came as no shock, but still does no discredit to the boys in blue.

England, on the other hand, have shattered expectations with five wins out of five, having managed to grind down world champions South Africa in the revenge match for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Overall, these results seem to continue the trend that it's going to be close, but do England now seem favourites for this match? Read on for our concluding thoughts.

Our Overall Scotland vs England Match Prediction Winner

We've looked at the data, so whom are we going to give the win to for our Scotland vs England prediction? It's going to be a scrappy affair, but we agree with the bookies and think England will just nudge ahead. It's likely that it's going to be within seven points on the scoreboard either way, so we can still see Scotland picking up a bonus point on a close loss.

With the potential for fresh players to start for either side though, we expect this to be one of the best matches of the first round; stay tuned for all of the action from Murrayfield!