Scotland defence chief Steve Tandy outlines disciplinary touchstones ahead of Calcutta Cup clash

If restricting the penalty count to single figures is generally considered to be key to keeping your head above water in international rugby then Scotland did well to swim against the tide during the Autumn Nations Series.

Gregor Townsend’s side won three of their four matches, losing only to South Africa when they were penalised a whopping 15 times.

In the games they won, Scotland conceded nine penalties against Tonga (who gave away 12), 12 against Australia (15) and 11 against Japan (nine).

It made for a total of 47 and an average of 11.75 and defensive guru Steve Tandy will look to lower that figure in the forthcoming Guinness Six Nations.

It’s not an exact science, of course, and the Scotland coaching staff’s chief concern will be kicking their campaign off with a victory over England in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Nevertheless, Townsend, Tandy and Co will be mindful of the way the South Africa game ran away from Scotland in the second half in November as the home side were penalised over and over again.

The world champions made hay and the six penalties they kicked in the 30-15 victory proved the difference after Stuart Hogg and Makazole Mapimpi had each scored two tries.

In short, discipline will be key when Eddie Jones’ side ride into town.

“It depends on what the game is, how much ball you have got but yeah, you want to keep it in single figures to keep the momentum down,” said Tandy of the penalty count.

“We don’t want to give a team like England easy field position. We don’t want to give anything free to England as we know how good a team they are and they can hurt us. We are very conscious of how smart we have to be around the breakdown area.”

Keeping 15 men on the field is also something Scotland will strive for