England v Scotland: Alex Mitchell says England want to end Calcutta Cup 'hurt'
2025-02-13
Category: sports

Men's Six Nations: England v ScotlandVenue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham Date: Saturday, 22 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMTCoverage: Live on BBC Radio 5 Live with text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app
England are intent on ending their four-year "hurt" against Scotland when the old rivals meet in the Six Nations, says scrum-half Alex Mitchell.Scotland have won the last four Calcutta Cup matches and Mitchell says English motivation is high to deny Gregor Townsend's side a record fifth consecutive victory.England will welcome Scotland to the Allianz Stadium on 22 February in high spirits following their last-gasp win over France, which curtailed a run of seven defeats against Tier One nations. "We are hurting for the last four years at not getting a result [against Scotland]," Mitchell told BBC Sport. "This Six Nations campaign is still up for grabs so it's a massive game for us. "We know Scotland are a quality opposition with some quality individuals so we can't take them for granted. "We know we have to just put a performance out there."Mitchell was influential in England's late recovery against Les Bleus, moving the attack from a wearied rolling maul at the line-out to a buoyant midfield, where Elliot Daly glided through the French defence to score the winning try. The Northampton Saints scrum-half, 27, says he noticed an opportunity amid the forwards arm-wrestle, which Daly exploited."The France defence was changing the whole time," Mitchell added. "They had two defenders and then one as [Damian] Penaud was doing a really good job behind the maul covering both sides. "We noticed a mismatch in the open so we shot that way and scored. You have a split second to try and make the right decision and luckily we did."
Daly echoed Mitchell's sentiment as he came off the bench to reduce the deficit to one point before fly-half Fin Smith, on his first Test start, kicked the conversion for victory."My initial thoughts were if the maul was going forward, I was going to join it and hopefully get my hands on the ball that way," Daly told BBC Sport."But it was kind of stopping and the ref was going to blow, so we called our move and I just tried to get on Fin's shoulder and luckily there was a big gap in front of me."I was going to call the ball on the short side but Penaud was behind the maul and I didn't know, if we did go there, whether he would have got off and then it would've been two on two. "I was talking to Mitch [Mitchell] and I realised he was going open, so then I had to get on my bike and join the play."
'Elder statesman' Daly only targeting Scotland
The experienced Daly, 32, was left out of England's defeat by Ireland before being named among the replacement against France. The utility back marked his 70th cap with the decisive moment from the bench, but says he still has plenty to offer head coach Steve Borthwick as he plots to end Scotland's recent dominance in the Calcutta Cup.Both sides will still harbour title ambitions after one win and defeat by defending champions Ireland from their opening two matches.Asked if he was beginning to feel like an elder statesman of the side, Daly said: "I probably do when some of the other lads are in their early 20s."When you go through your career, things change. I found it at club level with Saracens as well, where I did the whole pre-season, there were more young boys coming through than there were two or three years ago. "You have to get behind them and understand how they work because they see the game differently to you."The ambition for us now is to try and win the Calcutta Cup, and we are not thinking about anything else. We have beaten France but it won't mean anything if we lose next Saturday."