I fear for england in this.

Andy Robinson has spun the Scots up in to a rage of dislike for England. They are watering at the mouth and are rightly annoyed at the manner in which England acted when they won the WC fixture.

This one is more about who wants it then the quality at in the sides.

And i do believe Scotland want it more.. They feel disrespected and they are looking to nail England to the wall.

Scotland by 5!

Sry SARS. going with my gut on this one.

Scotland to ambush England and win comfortably.

Maxx give a guess at the winning margin and join the pool.
U could be in with a chance to win.... F... all

Well bragging rights if u count such things as important..... AND I DO!

Scotland by 8

and the others maxx there is more then one game this weekend :D

England by 8

Thanks for your forecasts Aristodemus, Max, could we tempt one out of you for Ireland - Wales, I know you have Ireland to win, but could you put a number on it?

England by 17. A new dawn will be heralded nd we'll then get stuffed by everyone else.

KEIOC

Its funny but i can sort of see that happening... a massive coming out party followed by over confidence...
could lead to some beatings...

Don't see it tho.

There's probably some truth in that, I think England will improve as the tournament goes on - driven by two things - players coming back, especially Lawes and Tuilagi, and a greater understanding of each other.

However, I don't feel that understanding will come quickly enough to beat France, and possibly not Ireland or Wales

SARS! is lawes out then? for how long?

I really rate that guy! big big loss. Im really happy now that i choose scotland in the pool :D

I think it should just be for the first game - England have four players who would usually be in the first XV that are out injured - Lawes and Wood in the scrum, Toby Flood and Manu Tuilagi.

For me Tuilagi is probably the greatest loss, followed by Lawes, Flood and Wood

England have just announced the 22, which is quite a break from the past

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/16824070

Not a bad looking side all the same. But for me Lawes is a big loss.
u need someone who will really front up to the scots. And he's ur man. Hartley is a good hooker but he wilts like a flower when someone fronts up to him.
Aslo i would be worried about Hodgson. he's solid enough but a little under whelming.

Strettle will be the danger man i think. If they get the ball to him in space... he's a hell or a speedster

Most of all tho if i was an england fan i would worry about the experience. Sure some of them have experience but most of that experience was gained losing in crucial games, not winning. and thats a real worry.

Scotland too will be missing key players in the scrum - Kelly Brown is out for the tournament and Alistair Kellock appears to have been dropped, whilst Nathan Hines hasn't been selected (I don't know if that is form, injury or something else), so the Scottish scrum has been denued.

Then Ansbro is out injured and Paterson has retired, all in all Scotalnd have as many issues as England do their. The English selection is interesting in that the players do have big game experience, if not international experience - I think the emergence of the Heineken Cup (which I actually prefer to the Six Nations) will eradicate a lot of the experience problem, though a game away at Murrayfield will be intense, however, I tend to believe that Scotland's greatest backer is the weather, and if it doesn't rain heavily it will take away one of Scotland's strongest cards

Dingbat - he is a loss - I went to the open training session at Weetwood Hall in Leeds - Lawes is a scary looking unit - he was just watching though with a hoodie on.

I think Hodgson will hopefully surprise a few people - he has been playing under Wilkinson's shadow for more than ten years now and now the 'legend' has retired, you'll now see a ten that can manage to get the back line moving with no slow pass (Wilko) or have a look what is on for me first, have a go, then pop to nobody (Flood). Trusting he plays without the pressure of knowing that Wilko will play if fit. Hodgson is a friend of a friend and I played against him at school - Charlie was never happy involved in an England camp as Wilko was always protected from any contact and that meant Charlie had to stand in and take the smashes - then Wilko/Flood/Cipriani would be in the 22 and Hodgson sent back to Sale. Before Flood, Hodgson was basically the one who got trampled over in training and was only ever brought on if we were losing. It must be really hard to get your head in the right place. Hopefully now he is effectively number one choice for the next few games he will play without any pressure - he knows the two centres outside him - i think we may see the best of him.

Either that or he'll be a complete mess.

SARS thats a fair point about scotland. They are weakened indeed.

KEIOC.
Very enlightening indeed. Interesting info to be sure but one Caveat for me would be this.

If he was always on the fringe under several (4) different manager, then i have to reach the conclusion that he was just not good enough.

Your conclusion may well be right - it'll be interesting to see how he plays and whether my second hand insights are correct and he'll play with attacking verve - David Flatman was on Talksport last night saying over the last ten years you could ask any centre which fly half in the prem you'd have passing to you and he reckoned all would say CH.

He may well fall short though - it'll be interesting to see what his defence is like because Scotland will try to run over him early doors a few times I bet. If he puts some respectable tackels in early though hopefully his confidence will soar. Genuinely looking forward to it - I've got a pass out as well so shall be enjoying it in the pub with the lads. I'm excited a tthe moment but come 5 o clock I'll be bricking it