Scotland centre Graeme Morrison says his side are fully focused on beating England in the opening match of the RBS Six Nations
Scotland centre focused on causing upset against England
Scotland centre Graeme Morrison says his side are fully focused on beating England in their opening match of the RBS Six Nations.
Scotland start their campaign in this year's tournament by hosting the reigning champions at what will be a packed Murrayfield on Saturday February 4.
And after joining up with the rest of the squad at St Andrews to begin their preparations, Morrison says Scotland are not looking past the highly-anticipated Calcutta Cup encounter.
"You really want to start well to put yourself in a good position and you can't look much further from the first game," he said.
"Certainly to play England at a full Murrayfield is an exciting thing to aspire to do. It's exciting times and something I'm very much looking forward to."
The Glasgow player started two of Scotland's four matches at the Rugby World Cup and hopes he has done enough to earn a place in the line-up for the clash with England.
Playing time
"That's what I am always looking for," the 29-year-old said.
"Every time Scotland play I want to play and it just depends on whether or not I've done enough to merit that in Andy Robinson's eyes and I'm sure we'll find out in the next few days."
Morrison insists that morale in the Scotland camp is high, especially in light of Edinburgh's success in qualifying for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
He added: "It's a good feeling, we've not been together as a squad since the World Cup but we all went back and did a lot of hard work at our pro teams and had a good run of games, especially with Glasgow and Edinburgh doing well going into this.
"Certainly, Edinburgh winning the group in the Heineken Cup yesterday was great to watch and I'm sure those guys are on top of the world at the moment.
"Although Glasgow didn't qualify we finished second in our group which was a fairly positive thing and we're looking forward to continuing to try and improve on our league position."
Injuries
A total of 35 players reported to the Scotland training camp on Monday, with Saracens flanker Kelly Brown remaining in London for treatment after picking up a leg injury in Heineken Cup action against Treviso.
Scotland team doctor James Robson said: "We are liaising closely with the Saracens medics and we await the outcome of two scans that Kelly has undergone today.
"At this juncture Kelly remains part of our Six Nations squad."
In addition to Brown, four other forwards have needed medical attention - props Alasdair Dickinson (shoulder) and Ed Kalman (calf), lock Alastair Kellock (respiratory tract infection) and back-row forward David Denton (hamstring).
Among the backs, stand-off Ruaridh Jackson continues to rehabiliatate a hamstring problem, centre Nick De Luca is following post-head injury protocol, fellow centre Joe Ansbro is recovering from recent back problems and full-back or wing Rory Lamont is being treated for deep bruising to his lower leg.
