Popping into my local shop to pick up a copy of the Radio Times, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the cover of their Scottish version featured an impressive looking Jamie Ritchie, the current Scotland men’s rugby captain.

He had clearly been made very presentable by the magazine’s photography and hair and make-up experts, but he still looked a mean lean fighting machine, as he does in real life.

To paraphrase the Duke of Wellington, I don’t know what he does to the English but he scares the heck out of me.

Ritchie will obviously be a key figure for Scotland in the Guinness Six Nations of 2023 which starts on Saturday – I am counting down the hours even now. It will be my 50th year of watching the tournament either live or on television, and it remains my favourite time of year in sport, usually because I used to be able to combine the Five or Six Nations with an annual trip to the Cheltenham Festival – no can do that this year.

Still, I will be roaring on Ritchie and his colleagues and though it may be 33 years since we last won a Grand Slam, I live in hope that this year will be the one to see a miracle. I suspect, however, that the title will go to France or Ireland, but Scotland can certainly make an impression.

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to watch Ritchie develop as a player, and even at his wildest moments, and he has had a few, I always thought of him as a likely captain of Scotland – that wasn’t really an outstandingly unique prediction as Edinburgh’s then coach Richard Cockerill said he would wear the Scotland armband when Ritchie put pen to paper for Edinburgh back in January, 2021, signing the club’s longest-ever contract.

He’s still only 26 and is maturing into a terrific all-round back row forward, and along with Hamish Watson and Matt Fagerson, I expect Ritchie to really take the game to England on Saturday while also performing the defensive duties that all three do so well.

The best player to come out of Dundee since Andy Nicol, Ritchie leads by example and really is an old head on young shoulders as he has often been described. I expect the back row to play a crucial part against England with Ritchie’s inspiration to the fore.

I don’t know what Gregor Townsend is planning for the front five, but Scotland does have strength in depth in all the forward positions and I expect the head coach is already planning some sort of bomb squad tactic, a la South Africa, for Twickenham. Impact substitutions are not universally popular but they are now part of the elite game and Scotland is keeping up with the trend.

The pack will need to do something special because although England have lost Courtney Lawes to injury, they still have Mario Itoje and plenty other stars. They will be formidable in the tight - they nearly always are – and I expect them to go hunting for penalties at the scrum, but our guys will be alert to that tactic and may just surprise England in those tussles.

Just a word here about Jamie George being called into the English squad – I know it looks like sharp practice by England after he was firstly ruled out with concussion, but as long as he completes all the return-to-play protocols then George can play.

I still can’t believe that new head coach Steve Borthwick dropped Jonny May, Billy Vunipola and Jack Nowell out of the squad completely and his inexperience and the depletion of the English squad are the reasons why I think Scotland can win at Twickenham.

There will be three world class backs on show on Saturday, and thankfully we have two of them in Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg, with the other being Owen Farrell.

Whenever I am about to make an investment with Mr William Hill’s wee organisation, I sit down and work out which has the best players in each 23-man match day squad. Number for number, I work down the list and decide which team has the best quality player in each position. I will do so again on Friday, but I can already tell you that I will be betting on Scotland as I really feel the Scottish squad is better man-for-man. It’s the first time I’ve felt that this century, and I can’t believe the bookies are rating England favourites with a handicap advantage of 11 points to Scotland – get on!

Scotland no longer has to fear the long-lasting curse of Twickenham and while I am by no means overconfident of victory, I do believe Scotland will put up a good performance. It may come down to the boots of Russell and Farrell, and discipline will be required at all times, with Kiwi referee Paul Williams sure to be firm.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to penalties and refereeing decisions and if Scotland can follow captain Ritchie’s lead, then anything’s possible.