Beating Scotland is family affair for Tindall

Tindall captained England to victory over Scotland in March and proudly climbed the Twickenham steps to receive the Calcutta Cup from his then future mother-in-law, the Princess Royal.

Eight weeks after his marriage to Zara Phillips, Tindall will lock horns with Scotland once again with a place in the World Cup quarter-finals at stake.

“I spoke to the missus. She did say that her Mum had wished me good luck but I’m not sure that (message) came from her,” said Otley-born Tindall.

“She’s very Scottish, through and through, so she’ll be hoping that they win the game.

“I always take pride in proving her wrong!”

Phillips was in Dunedin last weekend to watch Tindall help England beat Romania 67-3 but she is believed to have since flown home.

England manager Martin Johnson has demanded England treat the game as a winner-takes-all battle for survival.

It certainly will be for Scotland. After losing 13-12 to Argentina, Andy Robinson’s men have to beat the ‘auld enemy’ at Eden Park to stand any chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

England can afford to lose the game providing they stay within seven points to earn a bonus point – but Johnson has punctured any notion of a safety cushion.

The manager, who has recalled Delon Armitage, Courtney Lawes and Matt Stevens into the starting line-up, insisted his men approach the game as a do-or-die encounter.

Victory will ensure England top Pool B and face a probable quarter-final against France, rather than hosts and favourites New Zealand.

“It’s knockout rugby. They’re fighting for their lives and so are we,” said Johnson. “They have still got to win this week and the same for us. It’s a huge game. If we get it wrong, it could be a boarding pass on Sunday night.”

Neither Scotland nor England have ever failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup.

“You’ve got to have that (fear). When you are playing at this level, if you get it wrong you are going to get beaten,” added Johnson.

“We know that, we have that realism. They are potentially dangerous, potentially vulnerable. They have to turn their frustration, their fury into a performance.

“It is the same for us, we have to get the right mindset. You could sense a certain edge in training yesterday, which is good.

“This is a full-on contest. Don’t start worrying about ‘if we get this and they get that’, just go and win the Test match.

“We want to win the pool. We’ve got to try and beat Scotland. They’re coming to take us on. Simple. The way it’s always been.

“This is the oldest international in the world, there is a lot of history there.

“It’s going to be tense, it’s going to be nervy, there’s going to be anxiety, it’s going to be enjoyable. If I want a quiet life I can sit at home and watch it on TV.”

Armitage has been preferred on the left wing to Mark Cueto, who had sparked England’s victory over Romania with a quick-fire hat-trick but drops out of the 22.

Armitage missed England’s Six Nations campaign after being suspended for eight weeks following a run-in with an anti-doping official. But Johnson has been impressed with his form and dedication and he gets his chance against Scotland with Cueto deemed to still not be 100 per cent match fit after a back injury.

“Delon is in good form and he deserves another shot but it’s tough on Mark. He got an injury at the wrong time,” said Johnson.

“Obviously he is very disappointed. It was a tough call.”

England (v Scotland, 8.30am BST): B Foden (Northampton); C Ashton (Northampton), M Tuilagi (Leicester), M Tindall (Gloucester), D Armitage (London Irish); J Wilkinson (Toulon), B Youngs (Leicester); M Stevens (Saracens), S Thompson (Wasps), D Cole (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody (Bath, capt), J Haskell (Ricoh Black Rams). Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), A Corbisiero (London Irish), T Palmer (Stade Francais), N Easter (Harlequins), R Wigglesworth (Saracens), T Flood (Leicester), M Banahan (Bath).