England and Scotland meet for the first time in the Four Nations on Saturday evening when they open up what should be a fantastic double header of action to really showcase the wonderful sport of Rugby League.
Both sides lost last week so in the famous words of that well known Swedish quartet The Winner Takes It All in this one. England know the pressure is on them to win but Scotland will quietly fancy their chances of nicking something.
England
There were good parts of England’s defeat to New Zealand last week and there was plenty of bad parts and if they can build on the good parts and leave behind the bad parts then they could yet play a significant role in this tournament but they are definitely going to have to improve as we go along but they will know that.
A distinct lack of creativity, which I flagged up going into the New Zealand game, saw England struggle in attacking areas and at times they had no answer for the quality of Shaun Johnson. Clearly they won’t come up against him here but Danny Brough has been terrorising Super League defences for a while and England will know that.
Scotland
The Scots deserve a lot of credit for their performance against the Australians in opening the tournament last week. When Australia blasted away to an early 30pt lead everyone was thinking that the match could get really nasty but Scotland showed what they are made of and rolled up their sleeves, fought fire with fire and more than kept things respectable in the end.
They scored two tries against Australia last week and that shouldn’t be played down because not every side does that. They went into the tournament looking to be competitive and run a big nation close and on paper at least this would be their best chance of that. They face many of these players in the Super League so they should feel much more comfortable here.
Team News
England have looked to find a bit more creativity in attacking areas by giving Gareth Widdop the chop and picking the dynamic George Williams who Wayne Bennett has said will definitely play. James Graham misses out with injury.
Scotland have surprisingly left Ryan Brierley out of their squad but the likes of Danny Brough and Matty Russell are in it. Calum and Brett Phillips have both been included in the squad but Steve McCormack hasn’t named his 17 man side yet.
Betting
England will want to not only win this match but win it big because you would think the only way they can make it through to the final now is to beat Scotland this week and Australia next week and then it could come down to points difference but this England side just isn’t set up to plough through sides. Their strength is to batter sides down the middle but at this level teams don’t crumble anymore.
Scotland put up 12pts on Australia last week so we’ve got to think they will put up points against a weaker English defence here and while I’m fairly confident England will win the match to cover 34pts is asking a lot in my eyes. They only beat France by 34 two weeks ago in warming up for this tournament. Scotland are a lot better than France and as long as they don’t shoot themselves in the foot with penalties I expect the Scots to stay closer to England than this handicap suggests.
Tips
WON – Back Scotland (+34) to beat England for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Skybet
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