Joe Marler is desperate to help England wrestle back the Calcutta Cup on Saturday after growing exasperated with Scotland’s recent dominance of the fixture.
The 33-year-old prop grew up in an era when the Red Rose firmly held the upper hand over the Scots and he was on the winning side four times in a row after first playing in the highly-charged showdown in 2014.
The tables have turned since 2018, however. Scotland have lost only one of their last six matches against the Auld Enemy under Gregor Townsend and go into this weekend’s match buoyed by having won each of the last three.
That situation rankles with Marler, who is intent on ensuring England are celebrating on enemy territory come Saturday evening.
“It would just be nice to be on the winning end of it for once because it has been so long since we have,” he said at Murrayfield on the eve of the match.
“Obviously we had 2020, but the continued dominance from Scotland over us – it has been a long time now.
“From the start, we hadn’t lost to Scotland. Then the 2018 game the tide started to turn, the players that have come through in the Scottish side, you go, ‘Hang on, they have got some world-class operators now’.
“And it does shift the mindset slightly coming in as underdogs.
“The last few years without that cup, seeing Finn Russell and Greig Laidlaw, that video of them with their shirts off and singing with the cup.
“I wish I could be doing that rather than watching it. Or that famous Finn Russell photo where he’s got his Spiderman hands up and he’s loving it.
“That stirs passion in me to go, ‘I want that cup’, and I know a number of the other boys in the team want that cup back as well.”
Marler is pleased to still be in a position to help improve England’s record against Scotland after wondering if the World Cup last autumn might signal the end of his international career before Steve Borthwick assured him he still had a part to play.
“It’s almost like an addiction,” he said of his ongoing involvement with the national team. “I want to be part of a winning England team, creating new stories, creating new memories.
“I thought the World Cup was going to be my last opportunity at that, but Steve rang to ask if I’m still hungry.
“He asked if I had the desire to still crack on because he needed to blood some new players and move into the next cycle, but he also needed guys around to help with that.
“I asked my wife first but for me, yeah, it’s that addiction to be part of a winning England team and helping those young guys come through. That’s why I keep coming back.”
England will be led out at Murrayfield on Saturday by captain Jamie George, who lost his mother, Jane, a week last Wednesday following a short battle with lung cancer.
Marler, who will start on the bench, has been hugely impressed with the way his friend and fellow 33-year-old front-rower has dealt with the situation.
“Jamie has been incredible,” said the Harlequins prop. “I remember talking to him a few weeks before coming into camp, and he was talking about the captaincy being offered to him and he wasn’t sure whether he was going to take it up with things going on with his mum.
“Having known Jane since I was 16, 17, coming through the age groups with Jamie, I said, ‘Mate, just flip it and tell her you’re not doing it and see how upset, disappointed and gutted she’d be if you didn’t do it. You’ve got enough support around you in terms of the senior group to help you with it and you’re the best bloke for it, so let’s crack on and do it.’
“I’m pleased that he did. It has been tough since we found out about Jane, but he’s shown huge strength, and vulnerability which is great for the whole group, especially the youngsters to see that.
“He’s very much thinking, ‘I want to come up here, get the job done’. He’s dealt with it incredibly well.”
'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.
The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.
Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation.
"We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.
"We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.
"They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.
"Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.
"There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.
"We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."
South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
England dominate Sri Lanka after Atkinson's maiden Test century
England ended day two of the second Test versus Sri Lanka with a commanding 256-run lead, having skittled the tourists for 196 off the back of Gus Atkinson's century.
Joe Root's record-equalling 33rd red-ball century had ensured England ended a difficult opening day with a chance to build a commanding lead, and they did just that early on as Atkinson took centre-stage.
Resuming at 74 not out, Atkinson brought up his maiden Test century with a fine drive past mid-on shortly before lunch, eventually ending his knock with 14 fours and four sixes.
He would later fall for 118 to the outstanding Asitha Fernando, who then completed a five-for by removing Olly Stone to wrap up the England innings at 427 all out.
Any hopes Sri Lanka had of making an early dent in that target were frustrated, however, as England shared the wickets around in a brilliant team bowling performance.
Chris Woakes and Stone, who removed Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka within the space of five balls – left the tourists teetering at 35-3 by the end of the 10th over, and there was little help to come from the middle order.
Matthew Potts took the ball and sent stumps flying to account for Angelo Matthews and Dhananjaya de Silva in the 21st over, with Woakes, Stone and Atkinson later also doubling up as the tourists collapsed.
Kamindu Mendis' steady knock of 74 off 120 balls brought some respite for Sri Lanka, but he edged Atkinson's delivery into the palms of Woakes for the final wicket, failing to match his ton from the first Test at Old Trafford on a miserable day for the visitors.
England then avoided any drama when taking up the bat for seven overs before stumps, and Ben Duckett (15) and Pope (2) will resume at the crease on Saturday, hoping to make their handsome lead an unassailable one.
Data Debrief: Atkinson's big moment
While Root's heroics put England in a decent position ahead of Friday's play, Atkinson's brilliant 118 – coming off 115 balls – could prove the difference in this Test, allowing England to build a strong lead despite a lack of support from the lower order.
Atkinson's previous best red-ball knock was a score of 21 not out versus West Indies at Trent Bridge in July.
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