Careers as well as the Calcutta Cup may be on the line at Murrayfield today as the 2012 RBS 6 Nations championship kicks off with the oldest and grandest fixture of all.

As if this match was not important enough in its own right, the two men in charge of the teams go into it knowing it is one that could prove vital to their aspirations in the sport.

For Stuart Lancaster, the Cumbrian-born caretaker England head coach who played representative rugby for Scotland as a youngster, the campaign is effectively an extended job interview since he has said he wants the post on a permanent basis.

With a trip to Rome to follow before the first of only two home matches this season – against an injury-racked Wales – victory at Murrayfield could get Lancaster off to the sort of flier that would hugely strengthen his case. Defeat today might make those two subsequent fixtures look like very different propositions, however.

Scotland's schedule almost mirrors that of England since they finish with two away matches, the prospect of which could look very different seen through the lens that the result of this match will become.

Andy Robinson, Scotland's head coach, was loath to acknowledge yesterday that this match takes on added significance because of the way Scotland's fixture list pans out with three of the four remaining matches away from home.

"We're just focusing on this game. We'll deal with what comes up after this one," he said. "Whatever the schedule, we understand we have to get this right. We don't want to be going into the last game of this championship going for the wooden spoon."

Which is, of course, exactly what Scotland have done in each of the two seasons he has been in charge for this competition, campaigns that were followed by Scotland's first-ever failure to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.

With Robinson having been sacked by England six years ago, those are not the sort of statistics that add up to a powerful case for his ambition to coach the British & Irish Lions tour party that will head for Australia next year and it will invite the sort of pressure that Test wins against Australia, South Africa and Ireland have so far deflected.

Yet, when asked whether his vastly superior experience gives his side an edge over Lancaster's raw but vibrant-looking England, Robinson rightly noted that both of their fates ultimately lie in the hands of others. "No coach has ever won a game of rugby. It's down to the people in the middle," he said. "I think back to my first games as coach and we won those, which was down to the way the players were able to deliver. So the big thing for Stuart is to enjoy it, as all coaches do. I never played here at Murrayfield and the first time I coached here was 2002."

Curiously enough, that was the only previous time in Six Nations history that a Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield has been the opener. Things went very well for Robinson that day as assistant coach to a much more experienced England side that was setting out on the road towards World Cup glory and registered four tries in crushing Scotland 29-3.

He had, however, attended Murrayfield for the first time two years earlier when a similar outcome had been expected but Andy Nicol's Scotland avoided a whitewash by denying England a Grand Slam in the sort of icy, wet conditions being forecast for this evening. For all that many believe Scotland should have the forward power and experience to be dominant, most Scottish supporters will be pleased to hear that the same principles that won that game are set to be pursued at Murrayfield today as Robinson applies Caledonian chaos theory.

"You saw with the conditions the chaos that was created . . . fantastic!" he said of the 2000 game. "Having played against Scotland at Twickenham against JJ (John Jeffrey) and Finlay Calder you saw the chaos and I was involved in the chaos there. We have to create that chaos again tomorrow in the way we play.

"While, as a coach, I have to challenge the players to play that way it's not about me doing it and it's the same for Stuart. He has to go there and relax and enjoy the game."

All of which shows just how much Robinson has absorbed in terms of understanding that while his philosophy can still be applied in terms of getting players to understand how to find ways to win in different situations, there is a style of play that best suits the Scottish physiology and, perhaps more importantly, psyche.

"It is about playing quickly," he said. "That's our key aim, whether it's through quick tap penalties, through our handling game, the movement, the speed of ball at the ruck and moving the ball away.

"That's the element for us where we're at our best, where we're right on the edge but also creating mayhem in the England attack by the way that we defend and again that's the ability to get off the line.

"It's a key characteristic for us in the way we want to play the game and it puts the players a little bit on edge as well because it's about playing at a real high tempo."

That goes a long way towards answering the questions many of us have over the selection of a set of backs that look rather more like an assortment of able individuals than a coherent threequarter line. Sean Lamont's inclusion at centre is all about achieving what modern coaches call the sort of 'go forward' that Jamie Roberts provides for Wales.

And, while Robinson speaks confidently of the winger turned centre's off-loading ability, it will largely be down to others to find ways of broadening the holes he punches.

Max Evans, Lee Jones and Nick de Luca, meanwhile, all seem to have been given licence to find ways of getting into the game as the Scots seek to ensure that England are given no opportunity to settle.

However, if conditions are as expected it may come down to the sort of defensive effort that has been crucial to achieving wins in 2000, 2006 and 2008. That being the case, there is perhaps a danger that Scotland's pack is good enough to provide the team with what might be too much ball on an occasion when it might just be easier to play without it.