Even before Billy Vunipola broke his arm last month, Eddie Jones had been keen to trial Tom Curry at the base of England’s scrum. He had already seen a brief glimpse of the positional switch in the second half of a 39-10 victory over Argentina at Rugby World Cup 2019.

Still, following Vunipola’s injury, the decision to omit in-form specialists such as Sam Simmonds and Alex Dombrandt from England’s Six Nations squad came as a surprise. Jones’ explanation was intriguing, because it hinted at significant tactical tweaks:

“We’ve decided to go for a different way of playing at number eight, without Billy. And that’s a judgment call.”

There was a stuttering start to the experiment. Jones revealed on Saturday that Curry and Sam Underhill were particularly frustrated with their respective performances against France.

However, although few conclusions can be drawn from such a scrappy game, we saw some evidence of how England want to play with a lighter number eight at Murrayfield.

Curry’s 21st-minute jackal turnover is a good place to start. The sequence begins with a scrambled clearance from scrum-half Willi Heinz. Jonny May chases the ball and Scotland wing Blair Kinghorn drops to gather.

Curry starts beyond Heinz, behind Mako Vunipola in the screenshot below: