When going into any battle it helps to know exactly where the enemy's strengths lie, which is the huge, added advantage in Jim Hamilton's selection in Scotland's starting XV for Saturday's Calcutta Cup defence.

Not only is the Leicester Tiger a former England under-19 cap, the 24-year-old plays his club rugby with the men who form the spine of the England pack, hooker George Chuter, lock Louis Deacon and No.8 Martin Corry, which he believes has already worked in Scotland's favour ahead of the Twickenham clash.

"I think they're going to have to change their lineouts because a lot of them are the same as the ones we use at Leicester, so there might be a bit of banter with George at the front and I'll do as much as I can to put him off," he laughed.

Hamilton is part of a very new-look Scottish pack in which Euan Murray, Kelly Brown and Dave Callam are also making 6 Nations debuts, while Al Kellock and Dougie Hall will be playing at Twickenham for the first time.

Yet rarely has someone with so little international experience been so well placed to help his colleageus prepare for what lies ahead.

"I expected a few Leicester lads to be involved," he went on. "Someone asked if I was a bit scared, but I play with these boys week-in, week-out and I've played at Twickenham before so I'm just looking forward to getting stuck into them.

"They're going to be really physical and try to dominate us up front. They've gone for the biggest team possible, which suits us because we want to play quick rugby and try to run them around a bit."

As to his own contribution to that the 6'8", 19st 5lb powerhouse is very clear about what is expected.

"Obviously, I've not been picked to start sprinting down the wing and drop goaling. I'm there to impose my size and stuff like that so hopefully I can do that," he said.

In that sense it will be little different to a Welford Road training session as he and his good friend, Louis Deacon, who seized upon Hamilton's absence from Leicester during the autumn Tests to ease him out of their starting line-up, go at it.

"We compete for a place at Leicester week-in, week-out so it will be good to be playing against him, and Danny Grewcock is from Coventry, where I'm from as well," Hamilton said.

"If he Louis is not playing I'm playing. It's between me and him for that front lineout berth so there's a lot of stuff goes on at training."

The usual winner of those tussles, he noted, is the one not selected for that week's game and there is clearly huge respect for all his clubmates. That being the case he has some sympathy for what Corry has been subjected to when captaining a struggling England side that has lost eight of its last nine matches.

"He's had a hard time and it's not really been down to him, it's been down to a lot of things. So him not being captain gives him that extra freedom to express himself on the pitch and not have to worry about anything else," said Hamilton.

Whether Corry or Deacon deserve the "world-class" tag he labels them with is another matter, but it certainly fits the fellow Tiger who was Hamilton's role model when he joined the club.

"At Leicester Martin Johnson was a big influence on everyone," he said. "He's a massive leader who had this aura around him. I try to emulate some of his game, the way he played.

"If you looked at him he was a pretty old-school lineout forward. He was a big man, he was hard and he was aggressive. His game wasn't as technical as people might have thought. He played at the front of the lineout, too, so the style of game he played I try to take into my game and try to build on that as well."

No player in history has enjoyed more success in this fixture, finishing on the winning side in all nine matches. It could hardly be more ironic, then, if the know-how imparted by Johnno was to help Scotland to victory.