The China Mail - Tuipulotu warns England to beware 'desperate' Scotland in Six Nations

The Scots go into the second round of the Six Nations following a dispiriting 18-15 loss away to Italy last weekend.

A seventh straight defeat by a side ranked in the world's top 10 has intensified the spotlight on Scotland coach Gregor Townsend, with the Dark Blues yet to finish higher than third in the Six Nations era.

Tuipulotu accepts Scotland are under pressure but the Australia-born centre noted how England, who started last year's Six Nations on a run of seven losses in 10 matches, have arrived in Edinburgh on a 12-game winning streak.

"I understand that the fixtures have been disappointing, to say the least, over the last three, four...even leading back into the autumn," Tuipulotu told a pre-match press conference on Friday. "But we're the ones in the changing room and we've got to stick together through this time.

"It's quite funny, looking back at England's journey to the last Six Nations, they lost their opening game of the Six Nations (against Ireland), and before that, were on a massive losing streak.

"The media were on top of them, on top of their coach (Steve Borthwick), and they did manage to turn it around. Credit to them.

"Now they're on a 12-game win streak."

- 'Emotional' -

Scotland, however, have won four of the last five Calcutta Cup clashes, and Tuipulotu insisted the hurt felt from a poor performance in Rome could inspire the Dark Blues to yet more glory in rugby union's oldest international fixture, first played in 1871.

"It was a tough couple of days," said the 29-year-old British and Irish Lions midfielder as he reflected on the fall-out from defeat at a rainswept Stadio Olimpico.

"Coming back from Italy, it felt like that flight went on forever. We're desperate now, not only in the big scheme of things, but also just for our championship.

"That's what I'm hoping to see tomorrow, a desperate Scotland team. We're playing for our championship tomorrow, there's no doubt about that.

"You can't lose two games in a Six Nations and expect to be in contention at the back end, so we're a desperate team at the moment, and I want to see that desperation in the players tomorrow."

Borthwick's men are firm favourites heading into the match but many previous well-fancied England teams have been undone at Murrayfield.

"Definitely on their run of form, they deserve to come in really confident, but Calcutta Cup matches are often a little bit different, and it doesn't really matter what form any team are coming with," said Tuipulotu.

He added: "I'm expecting to see an emotional England team, and I'm also expecting to see an emotional Scotland team."

S.Davis--ThChM