England and Scotland head into Saturday's Calcutta Cup encounter at Twickenham knowing the outcome could determine the fate of their respective Six Nations campaigns.
Both sides have won one and lost one of their opening two fixtures, with England looking to prove a dramatic 26-25 defeat of France last time out that ended a run of seven straight losses to Tier One opponents was no fluke.
Scotland, meanwhile, are trying to recover from a 32-18 defeat at home to Ireland.
With unbeaten Ireland continuing their quest for an unprecedented third successive Six Nations title away to struggling Wales, a second loss of the tournament would likely spell the end of either England or Scotland's championship hopes.
"We don't want to be a team that has to react to get a performance you want," said England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth.
"The best teams find a way of getting better and getting results and it will be a big test for us this weekend to make sure we take the next step."
England's 30-21 loss to Scotland last year was especially galling, according to former Red Rose scrum-half Wigglesworth.
"We made a huge amount of errors in that game which happens in a game of rugby, but they were errors that were unlike us," he said. "They were tentative errors and that is not what we wanted to be."
Scotland, fresh from a warm-weather training camp in Spain, are aiming for a fifth straight win over England in what is rugby union's oldest international fixture, with the cross-border rivals first meeting in 1871.
🏴 The @Scotlandteam to take on England in the Calcutta Cup 🙌#GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/KBToDpb7vC
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 20, 2025
They have been boosted by the availability of co-captain Finn Russell after the fly-half suffered a concussion against Ireland following a sickening first-half clash of heads with teammate Darcy Graham that saw both men leave the field.
Dashing wing Graham, however, has failed to recover in time, with his place taken by Kyle Rowe in a talented back-line that also features Scotland record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe.
"They've been really good games (against England), I think they've been open and when they have been open your 10 (fly-half) has got a big role to play in that," said coach Gregor Townsend.
One of rugby union's most enduring cliches, however, is that 'forwards win games and backs decide by how many points' and the way Ireland defeated Scotland will not have gone unnoticed by England head coach Steve Borthwick, himself a former test lock.
Even before Russell's injury, Ireland's pack had torn into their Scotland counterparts, establishing a dominance they maintained for the whole game.
'CALM AMONG CHAOS'
England, with Ollie Chessum partnering captain Maro Itoje in the second row in place of the injured George Martin, will now want to back up their powerful scrummaging effort against France.
"I'm sure they (England) will look to be as physical as possible," said Townsend, who has recalled former captain Jamie Ritchie and prop Pierre Schoeman to his pack. "That's international rugby, especially Six Nations rugby."
Fin Smith, the son of Scottish parents, remains England's fly-half after an impressive first test start at No 10 against France, with Marcus Smith again deployed at full-back by Borthwick rather than in his more familiar stand-off role.
"Marcus is a brilliant attacker, counter-attacker," said former Scotland playmaker Townsend.
"But he's also a really good first receiver, so he can work in tandem with Fin, who is really competitive. He'll tackle, he'll carry. And he's a really good organiser of attacks. So they're dangerous with both those players."
Townsend, beaten just once by England since his appointment as Scotland coach in 2017, said the Calcutta Cup clash is the "fixture our nation and supporters look forward to more than any other".
But he also knows passion will only get the team so far.
"Maybe in the past...too much emotion came out," said Townsend, adding: "We have to be calm among the chaos, which there will be at times at the weekend."