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A new look England side travel to Murrayfield as the 6 Nations gets underway with what is expected to be a particularly feisty encounter.

Much has changed for England since their disastrous World Cup campaign which ended early thanks to defeat against France in the quarter-finals, not least at the top where head coach Martin Johnson has vacated his post along with attack coach Brian Smith and forwards coach John Wells – and the theme continues throughout the squad for the 6 Nations.

Interim head coach Stuart Lancaster has opted to herald in the future and hand three players their test debut’s for the game against Scotland – Owen Farrell, Phil Dowson and Brad Barritt – while Chris Robshaw is handed the captaincy armband in his second game for England following Lewis Moody’s decision to retire after England’s farcical World Cup campaign.

Plenty of old faces where given the elbow after off-field antics and insipid performances on the pitch combined to make England’s trip to New Zealand one of the most disastrous in living memory.

In fact, only six players who started the quarter final defeat against France will start against Scotland, while on the bench there are a further five rookies with only Matt Stevens offering any sort of big game experience.

Scotland, who are undefeated against England at Murrayfield since 2004, meanwhile have undergone less significant changes with head coach Andy Robinson opting to hand out one new cap with two players making their first starts for the game against England.

Edinburgh wing Lee Jones will make his debut while club colleagues David Denton and Ross Rennie start for their country for the first time.

The two teams last met back in October at the World Cup where England edged the game 16-12 thanks to a last-gasp Chris Ashton try, while it was the English who emerged victorious earlier in the year as they beat Scotland on their way to claiming their first 6 Nations crown since 2003.

While Ireland denied them the chance of a memorable Grand Slam the tournament was seen as a positive indication of their bright future at the upcoming World Cup, and while that patently failed to materialise, England will be hoping that with plenty of raw talent on display they can look to start building against once more.

While England are hoping to wipe the slate clean, remnants of their past caught up with them as Delon Armitage was arrested following a fracas in a nightclub, only days after the London Irish full back took exception to comments from Andy Robinson.

Having dropped down into the England Saxon’s set up, Armitage admitted he was angry after Robinson revealed he thought England were ‘arrogant’ during the World Cup, and that he had chosen to cite Armitage for a bad tackle after their encounter in October because ‘he was a little arrogant toward our team.’

Match winner

Despite England picking up two wins against Scotland in 2011 the fact that it is almost a completely different – and inexperienced – squad means betting is closer than it has been for some time.

The Red Rose remain slight favourites for the game, and are placed at 1.73 (8/11) with StanJames, while Scotland are best placed with BlueSQ at 2.50 (6/4) to claim a home win and get their 6 Nations campaign up and running straight away.

The draw is 21.00 (20/1) with BetFred.

First Tryscorer

Chris Ashton established himself as one of England’s leading lights after breaking the 6 Nations scoring record, and the Northampton wing is favourite to score the first try against Scotland at 11.00 (10/1) with SportingBet.

Ben Foden is 15.00 (14/1) with the same bookmaker while David Strettle, who has been given the nod on the wing, is also 11.00 (10/1) with SportingBet.

For Scotland Max Evans represents their best chance of touching down first, and is placed 15.00 (14/1) with StanJames.

Recommended Bets

First tryscorer:  Chris Ashton, 11.00 (10/1) SportingBet

Half-time/Full-time: Draw/England, 21.00 (20/1)SkyBet

View the rest of this betting tip at: http://www.bigfreebet.com/previews/2012/scotland-v-england-6-nations-betting-odds.html

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