Ben Te'o unfazed about facing Scotland at Murrayfield

Worcester Warriors centre Ben Te'o insisted that England will be unfazed when they head to hostile atmosphere of BT Murrayfield Stadium to take on Scotland in the upcoming Six Nations clash on Saturday.

England have registered 20 wins and 21 defeats in the 45 games they have played at Murrayfield and are yet to lose a game since 2008 at the venue. The red rose team were also the last side to beat Scotland in their own backyard that came two years back during the 2016 Six Nations face-off.

“I’m 31 now. By the time you get this far you’ve played in some big stadiums, in front of hostile crowds,” said Te’o, who will win his 11th England cap on Saturday.

“I suppose every year you come around to these certain games. Last year we were talking about going to the Millennium Stadium, this year Murrayfield, next year it will be somewhere else.

“You’re always going to have an away fixture with a hostile crowd, that’s part of the game. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

“They’re all hostile environments and they’re great to play in. It doesn’t matter at all to me where I play.

“I wouldn’t say anything in rugby has tipped State of Origin yet, but there have been some very hostile environments for sure.”

Both the teams will compete for the Calcutta Cup, that has been played 122 times since its inception in 1879. England have dominated the contest winning it 71 times while Scotland clinched it 39 times and 14 ended in draw. However, Te’o believes statistics will not matter on Saturday.

“It’s completely irrelevant. It’s fans who love to talk about past games, past championships,” Te’o said.

“Every now and again the boys will mention a game they played in, maybe they were going for a Grand Slam and they bombed it or they didn’t play well.

“That’s about as far back as the conversation goes. I don’t think anyone dwells on it. I can’t say we sit around talking about stuff like that.

“Things have happened in the past but if you are talking about this certain game, going up to Scotland, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the history. It doesn’t really affect me.

“What could a former player tell me about the stadium or the crowd? A lot of that stuff is pretty irrelevant. The way the team is going, we just focus on the field.”

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