England have pledged to turn nasty in order to win back the Calcutta Cup for the first time in five years.

Speaking after the team’s captain’s run at Twickenham, England No 8 Tom Willis and scrum coach Tom Harrison revealed the group have focused on tapping into their “nastiness” when the two sides meet on Saturday.

“We’ve spoken about it as a group, everyone says teams that play against England, they find a bit extra. But actually, there’s a nastiness to us,” Harrison explained.

“We want to win the Calcutta Cup back here. We haven’t [won it], so we want to do that.”

Willis, who will make his second start for England, added: “I think naturally you need an element of nastiness in you, from that competitive side of things, to push each other on. I think that lends itself to the best performance possible. And, yeah, it gives you that competitive edge. Hopefully.”

Tom Curry, the England flanker, said that England’s training session on Monday had been “edgy”, with the players pushing each other and not resting on the France performance. “It is not comfortable, that is the main thing. I have won big games and sometimes you come back in and the first session everyone is on their heels a bit. Here everyone is on their toes,” Curry said.

‘The hurt goes deep’

England captain Maro Itoje also said this week: “You don’t want blind rage and you don’t want blind, beating-your-chest fury, but you need some of that.”

Harrison joined England when Steve Borthwick took over in 2023 and is yet to taste victory over Scotland. Pressed on how much those losses had hurt, he cited the conversations between English and Scottish players on returning to their clubs as a motivating factor.

“[It hurts] hugely,” said Harrison. “There are loads of blokes playing week in, week out with these players and if you lose to someone you have to wear it for a whole year, every day when you go into the club you know they have got the better of you.

“Everyone has got their different reasons why they want to win and how deep that hurt goes. I want to win, and I want to win the cup.”

Scotland have dominated the fixture in recent years, with England’s last win coming in 2020 at Murrayfield, while they have not defeated Scotland at Twickenham since 2017, when their current fly-half, Fin Smith, was 14 years old.

England will use Ted Hill as lock cover off the bench, with the Bath forward in line to make his first England appearance since the summer of 2021. Harrison also noted that Willis could be used as lock cover, with the No 8 adding that he had scrummaged in the second row for Saracens on around six occasions. “I grew up playing with Ted and I don’t think there’s any question around his capabilities. He’s an unbelievable athlete,” added Willis.