If Warren Gatland is to be believed, a sizeable proportion of the Scotland team who face England on Saturday are playing not just for the Calcutta Cup but for inclusion in this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour party to New Zealand.

According to the Lions head coach, there are several key match-ups that will take his attention when England take on Scotland at Twickenham.

“For a lot of players this weekend is really important and the match-ups at Twickenham are reasonably significant,” he said.

“I’m interested in how the two 10s [Finn Russell and George Ford] match up against each other. Same with the wingers – I thought Tim Visser played well against Wales and Tommy Seymour has been impressive, while Sean Maitland has been playing well for Saracens. Stuart Hogg has done all right, so there’s a little bit of depth in Scotland’s back three.

“In midfield, they’ve got someone like Matt Scott who hasn’t even been involved, as well as Alex Dunbar and Huw Jones. So I think there are some nice match-ups between England and Scotland in the backs. Up front, Scotland have a genuine openside in Hamish Watson, and they’ve got strength in the back row – they will fancy themselves against England because I’m still not convinced that Itoje is a six and Vunipola has not played a lot of rugby. The two Gray boys have also gone well, so there are some really good match-ups in the Calcutta Cup.”