Very much in line with their coach's philosophy, Scotland's players are tapping into the widest possible array of emotions to prepare themselves for tomorrow's meeting with the Auld Enemy.

For all that there has been a tendency in some quarters to veer away from that description of England in recent years, the language being used from the home camp suggests the sporting enmity has never been greater. In a sense that is curious with Scotland being coached by a former England internationalist in Andy Robinson while Stuart Lancaster, the man in caretaker charge of the visitors, played his representative rugby in navy blue.

However, right down to being piped into the Watsonians clubhouse last night when taking part in a Six Nations Championship preview programme for the BBC, Robinson has made clear that his switch of allegiance could not be more wholehearted and he has been more responsible than anyone for raising the temperature.

From his observations last week about English arrogance towards his side at this season's World Cup, to Al Strokosch's claim yesterday that the head coach "hates" his countrymen even more than the Scotland players, there has been no attempt to play down the rivalry this time around.

Always a fixture that inflames passions, this is only the second time since the International Championship was conceived that the oldest international rivals have met one another in successive matches.

There is also a belief among the Scots that, had their only objective been to win that World Cup meeting in Auckland in September, Scotland would almost certainly be coming into this game aiming to match the achievement of the 1971 team that won both matches against England. However, their need to win by eight points or more led to them taking risks in the closing stages that let England break out and claim a victory which brought the worst possible end to Scotland's campaign.

Both in looking forward to tomorrow's match and in reflecting on that recent encounter, as well as the traditions of the fixture, Strokosch did not hold anything back as he made clear how deeply affected they had been by being part of the first ever Scottish team to fail to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.

"Disappointment is putting it mildly. I don't how strong to say it but it has been disappointing, frustrating, embarrassing - all the results that have gone against us and all the time we've stood in front of the media and said how good we are and how much of a chance it is and yet we go into the games and make an a*** of it again.

"We're saying exactly the same things here now but there are no more excuses, we don't have any more, there are no more to give."

Heartfelt stuff as you'd expect from a brave figure whose pride has been dented, but who believes there is much more to come."There's a huge opportunity for us here," said Strokosch. "It has been an upward curve for everyone since the World Cup and we must make sure we continue that.

"Look at the bench to come on. In the past we've had a good XV and not much behind that, whereas now it's a bit different. Glasgow and Edinburgh are doing really well and a lot of boys in the Premiership and abroad are performing really well too."

Nor is he prepared to shy away from the importance of this match to the Scotland players. Which in turn leads to the inevitable question of how their coach deals with that and what will have come as a surprising response, at least to those who do not know just how angry Robinson was with his treatment by some in the English rugby union and within the English media, when he was hounded out as head coach six years ago. "He hates them more than we do judging by what he says to us," said Strokosch. "That's not an issue. He's so desperate to stick it up his old employers and people he knows and so desperate to win all the time and that's how it comes out."

It would be ridiculous to say that Robinson, who was born, bred, still resides in and was as proud to play for England as Strokosch is to play for Scotland, could be considered anti-English, any more than that applies to the many Scots who are accused of such sentiments around the time of this fixture. This is, first and foremost, a great sporting rivalry. If the language used around it is at times slightly intemperate, that is what proud, passionate people are all about.