Role reversal was the order of the day on the eve of the Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham as representatives of the home camp explained how they are looking to learn from history, while the visiting captain sought to play down the relevance of the past.

After a week that began with Eddie Jones, England’s head coach, seeking to stir things up by harking back to the indignities he felt he and his players were subjected to before, during and after last year’s shock Calcutta Cup loss, England’s hooker Jamie George revealed that their head coach has also been educating his players about the importance of the oldest rivalry in international rugby, dating back to Scotland’s win in the first ever Test in the first encounter at Raeburn Place in 1871.

"Eddie has got into the history of it with us, when the first ever game was. No one actually knew that, which was probably poor from us,” said George.

"This game means a huge amount to us. The calibre of the game.

Their assistant coach Scott Wisemantel, meanwhile admitted to drawing inspiration from the sort of source Scots have often reached for in the past.

"I've watched 'Braveheart' a few times. I read up on the history of the Calcutta Cup and it's quite interesting," he said.

"It's just such a long time it's been going. It's more than a rugby game, sometimes. There are historical links for the supporters."

By contrast Stuart McInally, the visiting captain who will lock horns with George in the scrums this afternoon, acknowledged that he and his colleagues will be better served by staying in the moment as they visit the city where Scotland’s last visit saw the team suffer the sporting equivalent of the grisly end to which William Wallace, the hero of Braveheart, was subjected, the 61 points conceded amounting to a hanging, drawing and quartering on the rugby field as the Scotland team was not only beaten, but humiliated.

"History speaks for itself in terms of our (lack of) success down here in the past, but this is a one-off game," said McInally.

"It's Scotland v England at Twickenham and that's the way we're looking at it. We're treating this as a one-off game and all that history goes out of the window."

For the most part, those he is leading onto the field today are meanwhile entitled to ignore the rugby history because so few of them have contributed to it.

Of today’s starting XV, only three – half-backs Finn Russell and Ali Price, as well openside flanker Hamish Watson, were involved in that mauling in 2017.

What should be of far greater concern to them is their own form, in a Six Nations Championship that they entered with apparent confidence, but in which they have failed to build on the opportunity which was the gift they were presented with in opening the competition with a home game against Italy.

All the more so, because the most extraordinary aspect of the two-tier Six Nations Championship that has taken place this season is that none of the teams in the top half have, so far, produced anything like the form to be expected of teams that occupy three of the top four places in the world rankings.

That is what makes Scotland’s failure to make any significant impact on the competition this season all the more telling, following two seasons that had generated some hope that the long wait for Six Nations Championship success might be coming towards an end.

Five successive wins on their home pitch, followed by a lucky victory in Rome at the end of last season, had added up to successive winning seasons under Vern Cotter, in his last Six Nations campaign as head coach, after his still incomprehensible sacking had been announced and Gregor Townsend in his first, two of only three achieved by Scotland in 20 attempts.

This season’s efforts appear to have represented a backward step from a Scottish perspective, the risk of a Wooden Spoon averted only as a result of the bonus point earned when losing 18-11 to Wales last weekend.

In ceremonial terms the Calcutta Cup match will meanwhile be very much after the Lord Mayor’s parade should Wales beat Ireland earlier in the afternoon, but the history of the fixture is such that it has the capacity to transform how those involved feel about their season, in particular the Scots.

That, then, is the real role reversal they are looking for, as they seek the first Scottish victory in the lifetimes of anyone in the Scottish match-day squad.

To that end, McInally is surely giving his team its best chance In inviting them to draw inspiration from among one another, rather than memories of bygone days.