Scotland v England: Old rivals set for fresh plotlines in Six Nations battle

When a fixture has been played for longer than any other in its sport, you can feel its weight and the history of it chasing you down the years.

Scotland England is 149 years old. It never feels tired because beneath the great narratives of rivalry and animosity and friendship lie the fresh plotlines that light up every new chapter.

There are maybe more cliches to lose yourself in around this game than any other in rugby, not least because it is so familiar.

Old enemies. Brutal battles. An atmosphere unlike anything else in the rugby world.

Sometimes, but not always. It's a match where the expected result usually comes to pass. Only one of the last 10 meetings between the two has gone Scotland's way. It often falls flat. It's a day that can feel predictable until the moment it isn't.

And then it's alive. You can wait for an age for the one that no-one forgets, and that's almost the point. It's the hope that thrills you. It's the damp squibs that keep you coming back.

Strolling out of town west along Haymarket Terrace, it's scarf sellers and cans in hand. One for the road at Ryrie's Bar, on towards Roseburn Street and the little bar on the corner. People piling off the tram from the city center, others coming in shared cars and Range Rovers up the A703 from Peebles or the A7 from Selkirk, Melrose, and Galashiels, those Borders towns like a tour round memories of the Grandstand vidiprinter as club results used to come in on a Saturday afternoon.

It can feel just as cold as the most northern Six Nations city should do when the wind comes in off the Pentland Hills. The stadium itself has changed so much since the last Scottish Grand Slam, those metal girders creeping over the top of the stands, so much grey concrete to go with the dark blue seats and the white saltires, but there are still old quirks too - the cricket pitches in Roseburn Park to one side, the train tracks without a stop on the south side and the ice rink outback. Even those expensive grandstands have given the ground an idiosyncratic lop-sided feel.