After an increasingly characteristic performance by Eddie Jones as he responded testily to pre-match questioning in midweek, Paul Gustard was sent to make the case for the defence on the eve of the Calcutta Cup match and did so as effectively as might be expected.

Where Jones’ demeanour is that of a former front-row forward who was by no means the biggest so had to scrap for everything he achieved in the game and is never far away from an aggressive snap or snarl any aggression to be read into the England defence coach’s manner was of the passive variety often to be associated with big fellows who have plied their trade in the second row.

Calmly then, but at times just that bit too calmly both when holding eye contact and pausing just fractionally longer than seemed reasonable in relation to the degree of difficulty of the questions, he deflected away questions about, in particular, the nature of the challenge Scotland is now capable of presenting at Twickenham and, more particularly, the injury doubt over Owen Farrell.

That was bound to be the principal source of interest as England’s play-maker and goal-kicker missed yesterday’s training session because of a knock suffered the previous day and after volunteering confirmation that he had not trained due to “a leg injury” Gustard’s response when asked to be more specific, was to repeat, firmly: “It’s his leg.”

Assertions that they are happy with their cover and that Farrell is resilient and robust but “will do the right thing by the team,” were as forthcoming as he was prepared to be. However his claim that they have not even discussed contingencies should Farrell be able to play, in turn potentially creating vulnerability by leaving George Ford as the only stand off in their match day squad if they fail to call in another player, hardly fitted with the emphasis on attention to detail that is now standard at top level.

You can, of course, read far too much into the all too brief exposure provided to the leading and supporting players at these modern day international rugby gatherings, not least when there is an awareness that with a man of Jones’ manipulative expertise in charge, every act and utterance ahead of important matches is calculated with a view to its audience and how they will react.

What the England camp cannot escape, however, is that this is exactly that, a very important match as they seek to claim a victory over Scotland that would not only set them up to win consecutive Six Nations Championship Grand Slams when they travel to Dublin at the end of the month, but to break the All Blacks’ record of 18 successive Test wins in Ireland’s capital.

History suggests that even a moderate England team, let alone one in sight of such landmarks under their as yet unbeaten head coach, should have no problem doing so. Yet there seems an awareness that this is a visiting side that, much more than most of those that have visited Twickenham in the 34 years since Scotland last won here and certainly in the 28 years since defeat was last avoided, is seen as having a real chance.

It is even interesting to consider which of these teams has made the greater progress since they last met.

Then, ahead of his first match in charge, Jones sought to persuade us that Scotland were favourites on the back of the respective World Cup performances that saw them just miss out on beating the Wallabies in the quarter-final some time after England had been cruelly and embarrassingly eliminated in the pool stages of their own tournament.

There was a real sense that he claimed a mind games triumph over Vern Cotter that time, but this that looks much tougher to do now against a man who has already surpassed the expectations of the majority in what he knows, rightly or wrongly, is his last campaign with Scotland.

However we choose to read it, Gustard was, then, sent yesterday with the clear instruction to play down the level of threat to his defensive structures represented by the cutting edge the visitors boast today.

“Like any team we have an awareness and raise awareness about opposition, where they’re likely to score points from, how they get their energy and then we set about constructing plans to stop that,” was the view he offered of Scotland’s general attacking threat.

“They’ve done well… they’ve done well. They’re a good team, they’ve done well, but we’ve said before that our focus is entirely on ourselves. If we can perform to the level we can perform to we’re very confident.”

And Stuart Hogg specifically?

“You can mention him, you can mention two or three of their players,” he replied.

“Week to week there’s a lot of talent going around international rugby. Scotland have some good players, they’ve got a good attack. We’ve got a good defence. We’ll look forward to tomorrow.

“We’re just confident in the 23 we’ve got and very happy with the depth we’re building here with England. Whichever 23 are involved week to week we’re confident they’ll get the job done.”

As they definitely should be given the quality available to them even before the mighty Billy Vunipola was deemed sufficiently fit to be recalled to their squad and, for all the claims that Cotter has improved Scotland’s strength in depth during his time in charge, the options presented by the personnel on the respective benches shows the most marked difference.

Overall, too, England have every reason to revert to their default of believing it is all about them as Gustard told us, but as Scots look for signs that they may their opponents worried, his determination to do so may just be the strongest clue of all that there is some extra edginess in the home camp.