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England Eyeing Grand Slam Course
Steve Douglas | March 11, 2011


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London. Scotland heads to Twickenham on Sunday looking to foil the Grand Slam bid of fierce rival England as a trio of challengers hope the Six Nations leader slips up in the fourth round.

England has taken maximum points from its opening three matches and is on course to win its first Six Nations title in eight years.

Scotland, meanwhile, hasn’t got off the mark in this season’s competition and is without an away win over the English since 1983. However, if there’s a fixture to bring the best out of the Scots, it’s the Calcutta Cup.

“The players have got to be inspired by the stadium and also by the team that they’re playing against — they’re right at the top of their game,” said Scotland coach Andy Robinson, a former England player who coached the team during a disastrous spell from 2004-06.

“We have the personnel who can deal with it, but we have to be right at the top of our game. The record books show what a special achievement it would be for the Scotland team to win on Sunday.”

Scotland has beaten England at Twickenham just four times since they first met there 100 years ago but if Robinson’s men do grab a rare victory in southwest London, they won’t be the only ones celebrating on Sunday night.

Wales, Ireland and France — the last three winners of the northern hemisphere competition — are all on four points, two behind England, and still harbor hopes of pipping Martin Johnson’s side to the title.

Wales hosts Ireland on Saturday, hours after France visits Italy, which is fighting with Scotland to avoid a last-place finish.

England names its team on Friday but there aren’t likely to be many changes from the one that started the 17-9 win over France on Feb. 26 — a match most pundits branded a Grand Slam decider.

That should mean Toby Flood, arguably the player of the competition so far, starting again at flyhalf ahead of Jonny Wilkinson, England’s World Cup-winning No. 10 from eight years ago.

Scotland has made four changes in personnel and a positional switch for the match, with winger Simon Danielli, center Joe Ansbro, scrumhalf Rory Lawson and flanker Nathan Hines all returning and Kelly Brown moving from the side of the scrum to No. 8.

 
Associated Press