EDINBURGH — Ben Earl has said he knows what a “wounded animal” looks like as England prepare to take on Scotland in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup match in Edinburgh.
Scotland — and specifically coach Gregor Townsend — are under significant pressure going into the match after they began their Six Nations campaign with a 18-15 defeat to Italy in Rome last week.
England No. 8 Earl, who played in his side’s last win at Murrayfield in 2020, said they are fully aware of what kind of response their old rivals with have for them.
“I can’t imagine there’s going to be a lack of hunger from either side,” Earl said.
“Hopefully it’s a great spectacle for everyone but we know this game has something special about it. For us, it’s the Calcutta Cup and we’re holders of it but it’s also the next step on the journey that we’ve been speaking about.
“I can’t speak on their behalf, but I know what a wounded animal can look like. It wasn’t too long ago that we were losing games and trying to bounce back.”
While they may have had contrasting results in the last few months, Scotland’s form in the Calcutta Cup, with four wins in the last six, has been a hot topic in the build up this week.
England reclaimed the cup with a tight victory at Twickenham last year and while they won, Earl conceded Scotland got the better of the tactical contest. However, he said it was also a good marker of how much the side has progressed in the last 12 months.
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“That was the epitome of winning ugly,” Earl said.
“Funnily enough we have watched that game back a couple of times over the last couple of weeks for a number of different reasons, seeing how far we have come as a team but also seeing what being out-smarted tactically looked like.
“I thought Scotland, for the most part, tactically outplayed us for a good chunk of that game last year. The lessons we learned from that game, a lot of the boys have said they have learned a huge amount from that fixture and have kicked on from there.
“We feel like we are in a good place tactically and feel like we are prepared for a different kind of game that Scotland will bring.”
