Scotland must be “calm among the chaos” of the Calcutta Cup if they are to secure a fifth successive win against England, according to head coach Gregor Townsend.

Townsend’s side are fourth in the Six Nations table after two rounds of fixtures, one point behind third-placed England, who they face on Saturday.

The Scots were beaten 32-18 by Ireland at Murrayfield last time out after their opening win against Italy, and must win to keep any realistic title hopes alive.

If they are to do so, Townsend says his players must find a balance between passion and clarity at Twickenham.

“It’s there before every Test match, and in particular in the Six Nations,” he said.

“I would say in the past too much emotion came out, and not enough calmness and clarity in what we were doing.

“I know the passion will be there, the passion will be there to play for your teammates, to play for your country, to show an improved performance from the last game, but we have to be calm amongst the chaos, which there will be at times.”

Townsend has only lost one of seven matches against England as head coach, and has never lost at Twickenham with two wins since the exhilarating 38-38 draw in 2019.

Despite that impressive record, Townsend is under no illusions as to the task that awaits south of the border.

“Playing at Twickenham is always one of our hardest games and in recent years we’ve got on the right side of the result,” he said.

“But they’ve been very close games and we’ve had to play very, very well to get those wins. So we know that’s what we’ll have to do on Saturday.”