02 February 2023 , 18:38
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As far as Calcutta Cup clashes go, Saturday's Guinness Six Nations opener between England and Scotland may be one of the most heavily anticipated meetings the two teams have staged in the modern era.
But the Scots will travel to Twickenham without four of those stars with British and Irish Lions credentials in their XV, three of whom are out of the squad altogether. Hamish Watson, Zander Fagerson and Ali Price are the unlucky trio guaranteed not to feature at Headquarters, while Chris Harris looks to make an impact off the bench.
Gregor Townsend has put faith in his squad's depth and made a number of brave calls as Scotland look to beat 'The Auld Enemy' three times running for the first time in more than 50 years. The head coach relayed the logic behind his bold selections, however, with the fixture simply coming too soon for Edinburgh flanker Watson and Glasgow Warrior prop Fagerson, both of whom were part of the Lions' 2021 tour defeat in South Africa.
"Hamish is such a quality player, one of our leaders," said Townsend as part of Scotland's squad reveal ahead of the Calcutta Cup. "But given he had been out for over two months, we felt one game wasn't enough to get him up to Test level.
"Zander was very close. That was really a decision with the medics. He will be available for the following week [at home to Wales] - we are pretty confident of that. We just felt another week's training was best for him."
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Hamish Watson featured in the Lions' solitary Test win against South Africa during the 2021 tour (Getty Images)Scotland do have other past Lions recruits remaining among their selection, with full-back Stuart Hogg having been named in each of the past three tours. Winger Duhan van der Merwe started all three Tests against his native South Africa 18 months ago, while Bath-bound fly-half Finn Russell made an impressive cameo in the decisive series defeat.
The omission of Glasgow scrum-half Price was a special surprise considering he's started 28 of Scotland's last 30 Tests. Townsend backed his omitted stars to come back stronger in the wake of their absences, however, as London Irish's Ben White takes his place with Glasgow team-mate George Horne named on the bench.
Gloucester centre Harris was also a slight surprise to see among the substitutes, particularly given the added stability he so often provides in midfield for the national team. Huw Jones will instead form a centre partnership alongside Glasgow comrade Sione Tuipulotu, having shown huge quality in attack since joining from Harlequins last summer.
Ali Price featured in all three of the Lions' Tests in South Africa, starting in two of those fixtures (Getty Images)"Cohesion is important, especially when you only have four training sessions to prepare the team," added Townsend. "Huw has been in brilliant form. Physically he is looking in his best shape but also the way he has attacked running lines and the way he has defended. We have seen the best of Huw at Glasgow."
That decision to prioritise Jones' attacking strengths demonstrates a desire from Townsend to take the game to their hosts in the hopes of handing Steve Borthwick an uncomfortable start to his tenure as England chief. Victory for the guests would see Scotland seal back-to-back Twickenham wins for the first time after cutting the Red Rose down to size with a nail-biting 11-6 victory back in 2021.