Destroyer Hamish on mission at Twickenham

Hamish Watson felt he had a point to prove to Vern Cotter when he came off the bench to star against Wales last time out – and now the Scotland back row man cannot wait to tackle England on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Edinburgh openside had started the Scots’ previous five Test matches before being dropped to the bench for the Welsh clash last weekend.
However, with his club team mate John Hardie, who had been handed the starting No.7 jersey to the surprise of many north of the border, hobbling off with a leg injury after 24 minutes Watson did not have to wait long to enter the fray at Murrayfield.
After the match Alun-Wyn Jones, the Wales skipper, said that Watson’s introduction had “changed the game and disrupted Wales” as Scotland won the clash 29-13.
Watson told The Rugby Paper:  “It was a great team performance, the boys played really well.
“We hadn’t beaten Wales in ten years and we proved everyone wrong that we could back up performances, at least following the Ireland win at home – we have to keep building now.”
Watson knows he must up the ante against James Haskell on Saturday and is determined to take his second chance to stake his claim ahead of Hardie for the No.7 berth.
Watson, who now has eight caps, said: “Hards was doing well until he got injured, but when you’ve started the first two Six Nations matches and then come off the bench you want to prove – like everyone who is a replacement – that you should be starting. “I just tried to come on and make a difference.”
And make a difference he certainly did, making six carries in attack and six tackles and two turnovers in defence in less than an hour on the pitch.
Watson, who grew up in England and was part of the Leicester Tigers Academy in his youth, stands at just a little over six foot.
Over the years, during his rise through the U20 and Scotland Sevens ranks to the full international squad, many have questioned  whether he is big enough for the modern game – not a problem he recoghnises.
“You come up against little obstacles on the way, but you just work on your strengths and it’s harder for bigger guys to get down and compete with me jackling for the ball,” he said.
“Having a low centre of gravity for carrying also works for me because it’s harder to stop me. You’ve just got to work with the tools you’ve got and be good at what you’re good at.
“In terms of the England back row, well they are different to Wales and will pose different challenges.
“They’ve got quite big guys, but when Barcs [skipper John Barclay] plays at six we have a good person over the ball there as well.
“He was a seven and can now play across the whole row, so all our back rows are good jacklers and can slow ball down, so that’s something we will concentrate on at Twickenham.”
Scotland have not won at Twickenham since 1983 and have not beaten England anywhere since 2008, but Watson believes all of the pressure is on the hosts ahead of this one.
He stated: “With England being on such a long run of victories their fans will be expecting them to continue that against us on Saturday, but we are feeling pretty good ourselves after the Ireland and Wales wins.
“England may feel a bit of expectation, but really we just have to concentrate on what we can do.
“The good thing for us to know in our heads is that we still have not put in a full 80-minute performance in the event, but we definitely have it in our locker.
“We are looking forward to testing ourselves against a good team.”
GARY HEATLY