Scotland legend reveals ‘funny’ Calcutta Cup story involving Shaun Edwards and the ‘bloody good player’ he would have picked against England
Scotland legend Kenny Logan on story involving Josh Lewsey and Shaun Edwards.
Kenny Logan has revealed how Shaun Edwards helped prepare him and Wasps team-mate Josh Lewsey to do battle against each other in a Calcutta Cup showdown.
Esteemed former winger Logan earned 70 Scotland caps but never beat the Auld Enemy in the Six Nations.
It is a far cry from the current dominance that Scotland are enjoying over England as they head to Twickenham on Saturday aiming for a fifth successive Calcutta Cup win.
Logan‘s Scotland career harvested 13 tries and a haul from the tee that puts him seventh in the country’s all-time list of points scorers with 220.
Funny story
“England-Scotland games in the Six Nations were always huge during my career, especially when I was at Wasps,” the 53-year-old told Planet Rugby.
“My team-mates at club level included the likes of Lawrence Dallaglio, Josh Lewsey, Joe Worsley and Simon Shaw who all played for England.
“There was always a niggle in that week of Calcutta Cup games and international rugby you need to perform individually first and foremost.
“I was up against Josh because he was on the right wing and I was on the left wing.
“There was a funny story when Shaun Edwards, our coach at Wasps, said to me ‘who are you up against this week?’ and I said ‘Josh’.
“Anyway, Shaun took me out and we worked on some things that Josh wasn’t so good at.
“And then the following day, he took Josh out and did the exact same thing about me, saying ‘these are things that Kenny is not good at’.
“I loved Shaun Edwards for that season because he wanted the best for that individual.
“He wanted me to do well and he wanted Josh to do well and on the day we both played really well.
“Josh and I had a lot of respect for each other and I’ve genuinely got a lot of love for Shaun because he was very helpful in my career and also later on in life.”
As he recalled an international career which spanned 1992 to 2003, Logan added: “Sadly I didn’t have any victories against England and I must have faced them six or seven times.
“We had three Six Nations Grand Slam deciders against them and the one that sticks in my mind is a game in 1999.
“It was the Five Nations then and we won the Championship but missed out on the Grand Slam after losing 24-21 to England at Twickenham where I missed three kicks at goal.
“I generally played well in Calcutta Cup games even though I ended up on the losing side.
“I remember another game when we were winning with a second to go and England got a penalty which Rob Andrew kicked.
“There have been many games like that when we lost in the last minute, which is so frustrating, so it’s never been a great fixture for me. But you’ve got to play for 80 minutes.”
Centre decision
With Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu sidelined by a pectoral injury, Logan would have liked to have seen Cameron Redpath picked at inside centre against England.
He added: “I think Scotland should have gone with Redpath this weekend because he plays at a high level for Bath where he plays with Finn Russell on a regular basis.
“Cam’s a bloody good player so I’d have him at inside centre with Huw Jones at outside centre.”