Scotland vs England Predictions - Tight contested expected at Murrayfield in Calcutta Cup

Ralph Staniforth

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Last updated: 1 hour ago

Ralph Staniforth 1 hour ago

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Scotland aims to end England's 12-match winning streak at Murrayfield.
Recent history shows Scotland has won 4 of their last 5 encounters with England.
Expect a tight contest with Scotland predicted to close within an 8.5-point gap.

Scotland have won four of their last five against England (Getty Images)

Scotland vs England Predictions

The form all points towards and England win with the bookmakers placing an 8.5 handicap on the game. However, Scotland are always up for this game and the crowd at Murrayfield will be right behind the hosts.

Scotland vs England Predictions
Head to Head
Scotland Form
England Form
Scotland vs England Lineups & Team News

I am backing Scotland to get within the 8.5 handicap with a small layout on them ending England’s 12-match winning streak.

Scotland have won 4 of their last 5 matches against England.
Scotland have lost 3 of their last 4 matches.
Scotland have won their last 2 matches against England at Murrayfield.
England have won their last 12 matches.
England have failed to cover the -8.5 handicap in their last 8 matches against Scotland.

Head to Head

Scotland and England have met an astonishing 143 times in history. England have had the better of results but that has changed in recent years. Scotland have won four of their last five matches against England with England winning 16-15 in 2025 at Twickenham.

Scotland Form

Scotland are in a very strange place at the moment in terms of rugby. They have a very good side but constantly fail to get over the line in big moments.

Playing at Murrayfield is a tough assignment for any opponents, though and Scotland will fancy themselves this weekend, despite going down 18-15 to Italy last weekend. In November, Scotland fought back after a slow start against New Zealand but ultimately lost 25-17, a game they could and perhaps should have won in the second half.

That was followed by a defeat to Argentina at home where Scotland raced into a comfortable first half lead but blew it completely in the second half as Argentina ran out 33-24 winners.

Form often goes out of the window in matches against England as the Calcutta Cup is contested. Scotland will hold onto recent results where they have done well against the English.

England Form

England are the form team of world rugby at the moment with 12 successive wins. Their last defeat came against Ireland in Dublin in the first 2025 Six Nations round.

The English had to settle for second place in 2025 but are the biggest challengers to France this year. That may come down to the final round when those two meet, but Scotland has proven to be a massive hurdle to overcome in recent years.

Engalnd are a lot better these days though, so they will be confident, but Murrayfield holds plenty of demons for the English. Last week, England thrashed Wales 48-7 at Twickenham in their opening Six Nations fixture.

Scotland vs England Lineups & Team News

Scotland: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Jamie Dobie, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Nathan McBeth.

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.

Gregor Townsend, Scotland head coach, had the following to say on the game. “The feeling of losing is worse than the distraction around when people are giving their opinions to the group or to me as a coach. It’s our biggest game of the season. It’s even more important on the back of a disappointing defeat.”

England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge

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

England welcomes back captain, Maro Itoje into the starting lineup this weekend.

Verdict

Scotland v England

I believe Scotland, at home, will get within 8.5 points of England and with the right bounce of the ball, can upset the odds with a win.

Scotland +8.5

Handicap

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Scotland Win

Result

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