England look beyond Steady Freddie

It was jarring not only to see George Furbank chosen to start at fullback for today’s clash at Murrayfield, but to not see Freddie Steward’s name at all.

That Steve Borthwick has dropped the Leicester Tigers man from his matchday 23 should be taken as evidence of the head coach’s willingness to expand England’s attack.

Steward is rugby’s master of the air, the most adept fullback in the world under the high ball — yes, including Hugo Keenan. At just 23, he also covers the backfield with the instincts of a far more experienced 15. But it’s his relative limitations when moving in the other direction which may dictate that England move on from him for the time being.

Where Steward falls far short of world leader Keenan is in his comparative lack of threat in transition, while Keenan also possesses the ball skills to exude greater influence over structured attack.

Furbank’s inclusion adds only to the increasing Northampton Saints influence on England’s backline (diluted slightly by an injury to scrum-half Alex Mitchell for today’s clash) and that should tell its own story as to what Richard Wigglesworth wants from his attack.

Steward is both talented and young enough to progress his game in the coming weeks and months but in the meantime, it will be interesting to see the extent to which Finn Russell and the Scots launch an aerial assault in the absence of England’s Iron Dome at Murrayfield.

Kinghorn returns

Gregor Townsend has done exactly the same as Borthwick for today’s Calcutta Cup clash in dropping his fullback from the matchday 23 entirely.

There is a different complexion to Scotland’s selection at 15, of course: Harry Paterson both deputised and debuted against France at short notice a fortnight ago, and for 70-odd minutes he did so with the assuredness of a veteran.

The 22-year-old’s inexperience showed for Louis Bielle-Biarray’s chip-and-chase winning score, however, as Paterson closed the wing too early and left the backfield — usually occupied by Finn Russell, who had just made a tackle — empty.

Like Freddie Steward, Paterson has plenty of road left to run in his test career but Scotland have today turned to first-choice Blair Kinghorn, who missed the opening two rounds through injury.

The 27-year-old has played six games for Toulouse since his December switch from Edinburgh, winning all six, and his prospective influence on Scotland’s attack today has probably been understated.

Though he prefers to play at 15, Kinghorn’s background at out-half makes him an ideal complement to Russell and, when the Scots’ tails are up, the pair can combine to devastating effect.

At six-foot-four, Kinghorn is also at least a disruptive force in the air, and Scotland will surely send him up for a couple against Furbank to test his opposite number this afternoon.

The long and short of it is that a Scottish attack which spluttered against France tends to look far more complete with Kinghorn in it, and his return will have changed how Felix Jones will have approached this week from an English defensive standpoint.

Who will emerge as Ireland’s title rivals?

Only at a safe remove from the gut-punch finish against the French can it be pointed out that Scotland, who picked up a crucial losing bonus point in defeat, are still very much alive in the competition — more so than France, even, for the moment.

For whatever it’s worth, Townsend’s side have won four and drawn one of their last six meetings with England (they had won five of their last seven against France at Murrayfield, and we know how that went).

If they continue their fine recent vein of form over their southern neighbours, they’ll travel to Rome in a couple of weeks’ time hoping to set up some kind of likely title decider at the Aviva Stadium a week later — although their failure to pick up a four-try bonus over Wales on the opening weekend may yet prove costly.

England, meanwhile, are only a win away from talk of a Grand Slam tilt, albeit with their two hardest fixtures still to come.

The odds lean in Scotland’s favour and if England can upset them, the meeting with Ireland at Twickenham on 9 March will take on a weight that the fixture has lacked in recent years.

Scotland, though, are simply still a marginally better team than the England we’ve seen so far in this championship and they should have enough to send Borthwick’s men homewards to think again.