While Scotland and their captain suffered heartbreak at the 2015 World Cup,the upbeat efforts mean they disappear into the Six Nations match against England with no inferiority complex and the auld enemy rhetoric on the back burnerIt is the calm, measured tone of Greig Laidlaw that should concern England most. Before most Calcutta Cup encounters the auld enemy rhetoric tends to swirl as thickly as winter mist across a Highland grouse moor. Not this year. “We know how much the jersey means to the Scottish people but you can’t disappear on to the field thinking that, or ” Laidlaw says,flatly. “It really did feel as whether that’s why we played a lot better during the World Cup.”Hang on, can that be right? A Scotland team at Murrayfield actively trying to block out the pipers, and the kilted bandsmen and the traditional “homeward tae reflect again” exhortations? With a Six Nations championship kicking off shortly something really must be up. At this rate the hosts will be serving crustless cucumber sandwiches in the press box and asking tenderly after Will Carling’s health.
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Source: theguardian.com