In-form England are aiming to permanently put to bed recent Calcutta Cup heartbreak and extend their winning streak in all competitions to 13 games. We look ahead to Saturday’s Six Nations’ clash with our Scotland vs England prediction and preview.
Whatever woes may be troubling Scotland, they more often than not find their feet against England, especially in recent history. Across the two sides’ last eight meetings in the men’s Six Nations, Scotland have picked up five victories (D1 L2) and in their four home games against the Auld Enemy under Gregor Townsend they have won three times, including the last two in a row.
Last year at Twickenham however, the rot was stopped. England’s tense, one-point win over Scotland followed another one-pointer against France. Steve Borthwick’s side haven’t looked back since then, picking up a further 10 wins to mark their best run (W12) since 2015-2017 (W18).
Scotland opened their 2026 Six Nations campaign with a frustrating loss to Italy in torrential rain. England, meanwhile, strolled past a Welsh side in freefall, wrapping up the bonus point and, to all intents and purposes, the match by half-time.
Can Scotland respond to their loss by beating the second-favourites for the 2026 Six Nations or will England’s winning run continue?
Where the Game Will Be Won
This game feels like England’s to lose. If they can maintain the form they’ve shown over the last 12 months then it will be very hard for Scotland to shackle them.
One of England’s main strengths in their current purple patch has been their ball carrying; mixing brawn with brains.
Round 1 saw England have the best dominant carry rate (41%) and gainline success rate (73%) of any side, as well as them making the most metres per carry on average (4.7). People may point to the fact that they faced a weak Wales side, which is a fair point, but that performance was far from an anomaly.
England have the best tackle evasion rate (24%) of any Tier 1 nation since the start of 2025, while only South Africa (66.2%) have a better gainline success than them (65.7%) in that time.
England have backed up their gainline power in attack by boasting the third best gainline denial rate (33%) as well. Scotland will need to muscle up in contact if they are to disrupt this momentum.
Scotland still have plenty of talent at their disposal but they need to be more ruthless. They bossed the breakdown against Italy, with the quickest attacking ruck speed (3.12s) and slowest defensive ruck speed (4.44s). That all counts for nothing if the scoreboard doesn’t tick over though.
Since the start of 2025, only Argentina (2.6) have a lower points-per-attacking-22m-entry rate than Scotland (2.67). Only Wales (53%) have a lower gainline success rate than Townsend’s men (57%).
Scotland vs England Fantasy Picks
The only Scotland player to feature in the top 10 fantasy players across Round 1 was Jack Dempsey, with the weather no doubt hampering the chances of others to rack up big scores.
Huw Jones had a very quiet match against Italy but his previous record against England makes him a strong pick for this match. Six tries in six starts against Scotland’s closest rivals, as well as an average of 44 metres gained per game and a tally of 11 defenders beaten, all point towards him being a prudent option.
In stark contrast, England had four of the top seven scoring fantasy players in Round 1. George Ford’s man-of-the-match accolade bumped him to the No. 1 spot, while Mr Reliable, Ben Earl, was fourth ahead of Tommy Freeman in fifth and hat-trick hero Henry Arundell in seventh.
Our pick for this match comes from outside that quartet, though, in Guy Pepper. Spicing things up in England’s back-row, Pepper provides a bit of everything. A grafter with the potential to open the legs up and get behind the defensive line.
Against Argentina last summer, the Bath man came off the bench twice to accumulate 42 minutes of action. In that time on the pitch he gained 46 metres from five carries, made two breaks and beat five defenders while adding an offload, an assist, two turnovers and 10 tackles to the mix.
He’s unlikely to be picked by many players, so could he steal you an advantage? Surely you can’t just pick Ben Earl every week, can you?
Scotland vs England Prediction
This weekend will mark Gregor Townsend’s 100th game in charge of Scotland, and the Opta supercomputer gives his side a one-in-four chance (25.4%) of celebrating that landmark with a win over England. The visitors are the clear pre-game favourites (74.1%).
England outscored their pre-match score prediction by 10 points (48 vs 38) last week against Wales, while Scotland fell 17 points short of the 32 we suggested they’d score before kick-off.
England also outperformed their xP in the actual match (48 to 40), based on the quality of possessions they had. Again, Scotland fell way short of their xP (17 to 32).
The score predictor this week thinks England will almost double the Scots’ points tally at Murrayfield (16-31), with home fans hoping the visitors don’t overperform again.
Scotland vs England Lineups
Scotland: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (c), 11 Jamie Dobie, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 1 Nathan McBeth, 2 George Turner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Gregor Brown, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Jack Dempsey.Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 George Horne, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Darcy Graham.
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Joe Heyes, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Ollie Chessum, 6 Guy Pepper, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Fin Smith.
Check out our other Rugby Union content on Opta Analyst. You can also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Scotland vs England Prediction: Six Nations 2026 Preview Opta Analyst.
Hence then, the article about scotland vs england prediction six nations 2026 preview was published today ( ) and is available on The Analyst ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Scotland vs England Prediction: Six Nations 2026 Preview )
Also on site :
- California Dreamin’: NBC Kicks Off 2028 L.A. Olympics Marketing Campaign With Kate Hudson (Exclusive)
- Zelensky tells BBC Putin has started WW3 and must be stopped
- Not all degrees are a waste of time: MBA graduates from Harvard, MIT, and Wharton are making over $245,000 just three years after graduating