SEAN Maitland may not have been born in Scotland, but he insists he was brought up to "hate" the English just as passionately as his Dark Blues team-mates.
The New Zealand-born winger is expected to be named today in Vern Cotter’s Scotland team to take on England at Murrayfield on Saturday. It will be just a second outing against England for Maitland, who made his Scotland debut at Twickenham three years ago. But while he insists a victory would mean just as much to him as his native colleagues, he will not allow the occasion to spoil his focus.
“My grandparents made it pretty clear that I had to hate the English," he joked. “Not many people in New Zealand like the English as well.
“It is a massive Test match, it has been sold out for months and the atmosphere is going to be unbelievable. But at the end of the day, it is just a rugby game.
“I have been playing rugby since the age of five and my mind-set is always, 'It is just another rugby game'. I made my debut against England in 2013 and haven't played them since because of injury, so if I get the opportunity to play, that will be awesome. It was mixed emotions that day, making my debut and scoring a try, but we got put away by a good England team.”
Few are expecting a repeat of that 38-18 defeat - or indeed last season's 20-0 humiliation - this time after the encouraging display by Scotland at last year’s World Cup. But Maitland knows that the team still have a point to prove after losing all five matches in last year’s Six Nations Championship. “We let ourselves down in the Six Nations last year, coming last, so there are definitely a lot of points to prove this year,” he said.
“There are no excuses now. I know there are people outside the environment who expect things from this Scotland team, especially after the World Cup. We have to take our opportunities and grind out games if necessary, which we did at the World Cup.”
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