Six Nations

Scotland/ England

Over the last few years the sleek gentlemen who run English rugby have made much of the need for "elite performance", untroubled by the fear that Director of Elite Performance is possibly the most pompous job title since Idi Amin started calling himself Lord of all the Beasts of the Earth and the Fishes of the Sea. If they are being honest, the performance of the England team has been not so much "elite" as "crap at times" and "frustrating." In Scotland, though, their problems are graver, as they seem to have built themselves a Dr Frankenstein's Academy to develop players – excellent at churning out creatures with huge necks and impressive musculature, but not so good at successfully carrying out instructions yet. England really should outwit the slow-minded monsters at the weekend, by a margin of more than 12.5 points – England have beaten Scotland in eight out of their last ten meetings, seven of them by more than a 12.5 point gap. (You can get on the Betfair points market by clicking here) (Ryan, can you add a link to the Betfair points market here)

SCOTLAND
Last six: LLLLWL
Last six at home: WLLWLW

ENGLAND
Last six: WWLLWW
Last six away: WWLWWW

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Headline Trends

» Scotland go into the game on a terrible run of form, having lost all three of their Six Nations games so far against France, Wales and Ireland.

» England have held the upper hand over Scotland in recent years, winning thirteen of the last fifteen games between the sides.

» The last times the sides met at Murrayfield however, Scotland were victorious, recording an 18-12 win in the 2006 Six Nations.

Scotland

» In Scotland’s defence, all three of their games so far in the competition have been played away, and the last game they played at home, they won, beating Ireland 31-21 at Murrayfield in a World Cup warm up match in August last year.

England

» Betfair are running two handicap markets for the game, offering Scotland an 8.5 point advantage or a 20.5 point advantage. There may be some value in betting on England winning even with Scotland having a 20.5 point handicap, as Scotland have lost two of their games by 21 points – the 27-6 defeat to France and the 34-13 loss in Ireland.

» England’s last six victories over Scotland have been by more than 20.5 points.

» For those envisaging a tighter game and are interested in the 8.5 point handicap market, then only one of England’s games so far have seen them win by a greater point margin than that – their 24-13 win in France in their last game.

Any other business?

» chickendinner superfact: Both Scotland and England’s games so far have seen an average of forty-one points scored.

» In the half time/full time market, England have been leading at half time in all three of their matches, and Scotland have been trailing in all three of theirs. England have also scored the first points of the game in all three of their matches, but so have Scotland in two of theirs.

» Paul Sackey has scored a try to open to scoring in England’s previous two games.

» Scotland have only scored one try so far in the whole tournament, with that coming in their last game against Ireland. In contrast England have managed five. All three of England’s games have seen exactly three tries scored.

» England have scored an average of exactly 22 points in their points per game, whilst conceding 19.3. The Scottish in comparison have scored just 11.3 points per game on average, and conceded 30.3.

03/03/08

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