DAN COLE insists England will be fired up for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup showdown with Scotland by a desire to become number one in the world, not by dredging up decades of cross-border antagonism.

Former Scotland coach Jim Telfer lit the fuse ahead of the RBS 6 Nations opener at Twickenham by describing old foes England as arrogant, pretentious and condescending.

England assistant coach Andy Farrell put Telfer’s comments down to an attempt to motivate the Scots, who have not won at Twickenham in 30 years and have slipped to 12th in the world.

And Cole dismissed the accusations as predictable, hackneyed cliches and outlined how England will go into the game driven by the head, not the heart.

‘‘You know it’s coming so it’s boring in that regard because it’s the standard go-to,’’ Cole said. ‘‘People say ’We’re arrogant, we’re this, that and the other’.

‘‘You can believe it if you want but I don’t think we are.

‘‘Yes we’re confident in ourselves, yes we back ourselves and what we do, and we’re confident going onto the field we can win games, but I wouldn’t say we cross the line of arrogance.

‘‘We understand where we are and how we’re perceived.

Our motivation comes from how we want to progress as a side.

‘‘If we want to be the best side in the world we have to win this game. It starts this week.

‘‘We have continue what we did in the autumn into this game.

“That is the motivation, to go out and win.’’ Farrell said that emotion still plays a part in pre-match motivation but there are only so many times you can punch a wall or pull on the heartstrings.

‘‘The emotion at international level is something you have to deal with every single game, but it lasts for five minutes,’’ Farrell said.

‘‘All the punching in the face and knocking the toilet door down is now channelled into what’s my job?

‘‘Pre-match motivation is about finding what you are good at as a team, what your points of difference are.’’ England return to Twickenham on Saturday for the first time since their record victory over New Zealand and expectation levels will be high.

Telfer’s criticisms of England were that certain key players had believed their own publicity after that victory over the All Blacks, and that Stuart Lancaster’s side are not as good as they think.

Not if you listen to Cole, who has never lost to Scotland but knows just how tough it is to win the Calcutta Cup.

England have won the last three meetings between the sides but none of them by more than seven points. Cole’s first Calcutta Cup experience was a draw at Murrayfield.

‘‘We set the bar quite high and people will expect us to win because we beat New Zealand and New Zealand beat Scotland in the autumn,’’ Cole said.

‘‘But we know that is not the case.

“The expectation is different now and we have to manage that as a team. Scotland are a dangerous team to play against.

‘‘They’ve got nothing to lose.

“They’ve got an interim coaching staff and have been written off, much as we were last year, and we finished second.

‘‘Every time I’ve played Scotland it’s been close. They will come down and try and batter us physically.’’ England squad to face Scotland: Forwards: Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (London Wasps), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), David Wilson (Bath Rugby), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers) Backs: Chris Ashton (Saracens), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Care (Harlequins), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Alex Goode (Saracens), David Strettle (Saracens), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).

Scotland team: Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), Maitland (Glasgow Warriors), Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Visser (Edinburgh Rugby), Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby); Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Murray (Worcester Warriors), Gray (Sale Sharks), Hamilton (Gloucester Rugby), Strokosch (Perpignan), Brown (capt, Saracens), Beattie (Montpellier).

Replacements: Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Low (Glasgow Warriors), Cross (Edinburgh Rugby), Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Denton (Edinburgh Rugby), Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), Weir (Glasgow Warriors), Evans (Castres).