The Japan Times - History inspires Darge as Scotland eye five wins in a row over England

The Scots went 38 years without a Twickenham triumph before their 11-6 Calcutta Cup success in 2021.

They are now eyeing both a fifth successive win over England and an equally unprecedented third straight Twickenham triumph in rugby union's oldest international fixture.

They go into a 143rd meeting with their cross-border rivals following a disappointing 32-18 second-round loss to Six Nations champions Ireland in Edinburgh that following an opening win over Italy.

"I think it's an opportunity to be involved in historic wins," Darge told a pre-match press conference at Twickenham on Friday.

"You go into the tournament with massive ambition to be a Scotland team that does something special. We got beat last time out, but there's still loads to play for in this tournament."

- 'The big one' -

The 24-year-old Glasgow flanker, playing at Twickenham for the first time, added: "Scotland v England is always a big one. It makes that role of getting the motivation pretty easy -- there's loads there already.

"Historically it's always been a game that as a fan you watch with more interest than others and now that you're actually playing in it, sometimes you have to take a moment to reflect on the fact that you're actually involved in one now.

"But the absolute main driver is obviously the fact it's a Six Nations game and if we win, we get four or five points."

Scotland have a talented back-line but were bullied up front by Ireland, with one newspaper report even suggesting they had a "weedy" pack.

"I think it's not something we use as fuel, certainly I don't," said Darge. "It's something you should be proud of; what you do as a forward pack anyway. It's always an important factor of the game, isn't it, the physicality between the two packs?"

Scotland have been boosted by the inclusion of Darge's co-captain Finn Russell after the playmaking fly-half, who has tormented England in recent encounters, was passed fit following a concussion that forced him off the field against Ireland.

"Finn is really important to us as a team so I'm delighted that he's fit," said Darge. "He has so much experience playing for Scotland and his talent speaks for itself."

England are fresh from a thrilling 26-25 win over France that ended a run of seven straight losses by leading nations, with Steve Borthwick's decision to select Fin Smith at fly-half and move Marcus Smith to full-back vindicated by the Northampton playmaker's composed display in his first Test start in the No 10 shirt.

"Both are outstanding players and it might be a case of trying to get them both on the field at the same time and it certainly worked for them against France," said Darge.

M.Sugiyama--JT