Scotland v England live: Calcutta Cup rivals collide in key Six Nations clash

The penalty is bang in front and it’s easy for Finn Russell to slot it. First blood, Scotland.

And a promising start for Gregor Townsend’s men.

Scotland stay tight through Brown, McBeth and then Darge. Penalty coming for the hosts but they continue to probe in the 22.

We’ll come back for the offside and Scotland opt to go for the posts.

An end-to-end start here. Mitchell under pressure from Tuipulotu and finds touch but a great platform for the hosts.

They crash into the 22 from the lineout

Underway in Edinburgh. Who will win this Calcutta Cup?

Both sides are out at Murrayfield, the anthems underway and kick-off is imminent. Not long now

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Geo)

Assistant Referees: Andrea Piardi (Ita) & Gianluca Gnecchi (Ita)

Television Match Official: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)

Foul Play Review Officer: Matteo Liperini (Ita)

Plenty of fans turned out to welcome both teams to Murrayfield earlier today

Maro Itoje has challenged England to be the “aggressors” in their Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland as they seek to further their Six Nations title hopes.

England arrive at Murrayfield on a run of 12 consecutive victories but needing to correct a troublesome recent record in this fixture, with Scotland winning three of their last four meetings in Edinburgh.

Itoje lifted the Calcutta Cup for the first time after a narrow victory at Twickenham last year, but knows that the challenge will be greater here.

“I want us to be aggressive, accurate, and play with confidence,” Itoje said. “It is going to be a very physical game. Every time we play them and every time we play them up here it’s always a physical game.”

I think Scotland will try and go after Henry Arundell under the high ball at times. The England wing is improving in that regard but Kyle Steyn is an outstanding operator as a kick-chaser, and both he and Jamie Dobie will be keen to make an impact having been seldom sighted last week. Gregor Townsend admitted that he had considered bringing back Duhan van der Merwe, England’s kryptonite, for this fixture, but has backed the form of the Glasgow pair.

Van der Merwe, incidentally, is the 24th man for Scotland today. Blair Kinghorn returned to Toulouse on Wednesday - his continued absence is probably more surprising.

To respect the conventions and superstitions of the theatre, we should probably refer to Nathan McBeth as the Scottish prop. This is a huge opportunity for the Glasgow man, somewhat surprisingly preferred to Pierre Schoeman after the loosehead’s off day in Rome. Joe Heyes has quietly been one of England’s best performers in this long winning run, and will surely look to get after a relatively untested international prop.

“I thought Nathan made a massive impact off the bench last week, particularly in the set piece,” Sione Tuipulotu said of the Scottish prop yesterday. “He's a quiet guy, and he leads by action. In my years at Glasgow, he’s often been the guy that you look back you watch the tape and he's making all these plays you didn't expect him to make, and it's because he cares. So I think it's the perfect time for him to get his opportunity in a big match that I know he cares about a lot tomorrow.”