No need for motivation when we face Scots says Youngs

Ben Youngs happily fanned the Calcutta Cup flames that threaten to burn red hot in the build-up to the latest crunch battle between the old rivals, claiming: “There’s no love lost between us.”
The Leicester scrum-half also eagerly responded to former Scotland and Lions coach and forward Jim Telfer’s pre-tournament verbal attack on England’s head coach Eddie Jones and the Red Rose fans, insisting: “Jim’s even come at me before…but I’ve never met him!”
Youngs is confident England are ready and able to repel the latest assault from a Scotland team desperate to end a miserable winless record at Twickenham that stretches back to 1983.
Youngs, not even born then, wants to keep that record going and help his country take another giant stride towards back-to-back Grand Slams and also surpass New Zealand‘s world record 18-match winning sequence.
Jones’ men can equal it with victory over a revitalised Scottish side. But Youngs certainly has little time for any wind-up attempts from his rivals.
Former Scotland and Lions forward Telfer accused Jones of acting “like  Donald Trump” and also criticised Twickenham fans for showing “no respect towards opponents” and “thinking they’re superior, coming from the south-east, bags of money and bags of this and that”.
Youngs expects more of the same before Saturday’s contest. Asked about Telfer’s remarks, Youngs, who takes back the No.9 jersey from Danny Care, insisted: “He always does it. He has even come at me once before and I have never met the bloke! It was a couple of years ago. His opinion of Twickenham is obviously different to mine but he probably hasn’t had good experiences there if they haven’t won for 34 years, which is probably why he’s got that opinion.
“I’m sure he’ll come out again in the build-up. It’s like when you get to Australia, David Campese and all come out. I’m sure there will be some bits said over the next few days.
“I don’t think you need too much more incentive than the fact that it is England against Scotland. I can’t say there is too much love between the two nations and there certainly isn’t in this side either.
“That rivalry has been there way before I played for England; since the first one in 1871. And I don’t think it’s changed – England-Scotland is a big game. It’s the Calcutta Cup and it’s one of those weeks.
“When you play Wales you get that sort of week, and Scotland is another where you get that bit of edge around training.
“You find France, Wales Italy and everyone has raised their game. Everyone is saying Wales played their best game in two or three years against us, same with the French so that is a lesson to us all. Every time we play a team they raise their game.
“Scotland don’t need much more motivation than playing England and trying to end our run. They want to be the team that does that. We are coping well with that and really starting to understand that and are working to bring that extra bit.
“It brings excitement because the public have expectations about this England side and what that brings.
“Scotland will love to knock us off our perch.  They’re clearly playing for their head coach Vern Cotter who’s leaving at the end of the tournament.
“He’s obviously done a terrific job and beating Ireland and Wales will have given them confidence.
“But the fact they are confident of getting a good result is also motivation for us. There’s been a certain edge in training within the forwards which I haven’t seen for quite a while. They can sense a big game coming and you can feel it.
“That’s good because, when you get that, you know a performance is coming. It’s exciting and the coaches have probably got to manage that a bit because we don’t want to peak too soon.”
GARY FITZGERALD