Eddie Jones has attempted to pile the pressure on Scotland before Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash by billing Gregor Townsend’s side as “red-hot” favourites and questioning whether they can handle the weight of expectation.

Jones has also claimed Scotland “brag” about how they get under the skin of England before predicting that they will employ similar tactics at Murrayfield. And in a further demonstration of Jones’s wariness of Scotland tactics it emerged that England have this week sought a law clarification from World Rugby relating to diving on the ball.

On Thursday Jones named the most inexperienced Six Nations side of his tenure at 462 caps and appointed Tom Curry as England’s youngest captain since Will Carling in 1988, going on to claim that Scotland are two years ahead of his team in terms of their development. The scrum-half Ben Youngs contributes almost a quarter of England’s total caps while seven of the side are still in single figures.

England are still marginal favourites with the bookmakers but Jones was adamant his side head to Murrayfield, seeking what would be only a second win over Scotland in five matches, as underdogs. In a somewhat dubious claim, given he has anointed Scotland favourites in the past, he said that it is the first time he has gone into this fixture as the underdogs but his intentions were clear with Townsend’s men well fancied, having last year claimed a first win at Twickenham since 1983 before contributing eight players to the Lions tour.

“Scotland are red-hot favourites,” said Jones. “They’ve got to cope with that expectation. There’ll be 67,000 fans and they’ll be thinking about all the fans watching the game on the [TV]. They have to carry that burden. Every game for us is the same – we’re expected to win, so it’s no different for us. We want to get on the front foot and take Scotland on. It’s the first time I’ve had the experience of going up there when Scotland have been red-hot favourites. They’re expected to win … They’re well coached by Gregor, they’ve got some outstanding players, but that expectation of winning is a different pressure to handle and I’m not sure how they handle that. What we know is that we’re well prepared and we’re coming after them.”

Jones has handed surprise starts to Joe Marchant, Nick Isiekwe and Sam Simmonds in his rookie side that includes only six of the XV who were beaten in their Six Nations opener by Scotland a year ago.

“They brag about they can win that psychological battle, they brag they can get under the skin of England but we’ll see on Saturday, it’ll be mind over emotions for us,” added Jones. “They’ll go at Marcus [Smith], they’ll go at guys like [Ellis] Genge and [Kyle] Sinckler but we feel like all those players will be able to handle it.”

Townsend, for his part, brushed off Jones’s mind games after naming a strong side that includes the returning Jonny Gray, who missed the autumn campaign through injury.

“Every coach does this little song and dance going into a game trying to convince the media they are underdogs and telling the players their backs are against the wall, ‘We’re going to this hostile place’,” said the Scotland head coach. “The bookies pick the favourites and I know we’re not the favourites with them.”

Curry was widely tipped for the captaincy with both Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes sidelined through injury and Jones compared the back-rower to the All Black legend Richie McCaw. Curry vowed to “lead by example” and revealed Carling has been giving him some words of wisdom in his role as England consultant.

“Speaking to Will, he’s been a really good influence,” said Curry. “As a leadership group we speak to him two-three times a week, we get a lot of advice on how he sees it, how we can improve, always asking questions. He’s been a great influence on the group as a whole.”

England have sought a law clarification from World Rugby relating to rucks and loose balls in open play. In a move that would appear to be designed to ensure the officials are on red alert when they are seeking to defend their ball at a ruck and preparing to box-kick, England asked for clarity as to when players can dive on a ball – something they are prohibited from doing at a ruck.

The former England hooker Brian Moore will step down from his role as BBC commentator on the men’s Six Nations after this weekend’s Calcutta Cup match. Moore, who has been working for the BBC for more than 20 years, will continue to work on the women’s tournament which begins in March.