Saints star Mitchell ready to help England put four years of pain behind them

The Red Rose have lost to Scotland in each of the past four Six Nations tournaments, failing to beat them since a 13-6 win at Murrayfield back in February 2020.

But after earning a morale-boosting victory against France last time out, England will be confident of seeing off a Scotland side who lost at home to Ireland in their most recent match.

And Saints scrum-half Mitchell is desperate to steer England to victory on home soil.

“I think we’ve got a different squad, different game plans, they’ve got a different squad, so every year is so different in every Six Nations," Mitchell said.

"I wouldn’t say there’s a monkey on our back at all, obviously we need to respect their quality opposition, with quality individuals, but we just need to look after our game plan, our performance, and hopefully we’ll get a result.

“Personally, I can’t wait.

"We’re hurting from the last four years. It’s not nice to lose that many on the bounce.

"Hopefully we can bounce back, but it’s going to be an exciting game.”

Mitchell was up against world class Toulouse No.9 Antoine Dupont as England got the better of France earlier this month.

And he enjoyed taking on one of rugby's top operators in the 26-25 triumph.

“I’ve got huge respect for him," Mitchell said. "He’s obviously one of the best players in the world, isn’t he?

"He doesn’t need to talk too much on the field. A lot of the quality players just go about their business and are so good at it. It was quality to play against someone like that.

"I managed to get his top after the game, which I was pretty buzzing with.

“It’s fantastic to play against someone like that and try to learn from him. It was a really good day.

"Some of the scrum-halves are so chirpy and some lads are really quiet, but he was a lot more just, yeah, does his own job and does it in a very good way.

"So, yeah, it was good to see him.”

Mitchell is happy to draw what knowledge he can from facing Dupont.

He added: “I think just from the game, he just tries to get involved with everything.

"If you watch him, whether it’s attack or defence, he just wants to be on the ball.

"Defence, he wants to make an impact. He’s willing to put his head everywhere and he always wants to be involved because he’s so good.

“To kind of see that and admire that is class to see.

"Everything good with France is normally involved around him, so it’s good to see that on the pitch.”

The main thing for Mitchell and Co was to secure a victory after losing to Ireland in their Six Nations opener.

“I think the win was needed, wasn’t it?" Mitchell said.

"I think the last five, six games we’ve come really close. We’ve just not got the right side of a result and we’ve finally done that. Against France as well, a quality opposition, top two, three in the world.

“So, yeah, we found a way and I think that’s going to be huge for our confidence. We need that going forward.

"We know we’re a quality side, but you need results at the end of the day, that’s the business, so we’re really happy.”