Pressure is building on exciting England

In our last game we beat France, our biggest rivals, to make it three important wins for this young and exciting England team but Martin Johnson will spend the week reminding the players about the dangers Scotland pose.

England go into this RBS Six Nations match as favourites and they have to learn how to handle that kind of pressure and expectation without allowing talk of a possible Grand Slam to cloud their thinking.

The team I was in that did the clean sweep of the championship in 2003 and then won the World Cup in Australia had the confidence that we could beat anyone on our day. However, there were some tough setbacks before we had that mindset.

The test of character for any team is:can you still perform with the pressure of being favourites?

Let's remember, the Scots were the form team at the end of 2010, winning two Tests in Argentina last summer and then beating world champions South Africa in November while, 12 months ago, we were lucky to get away with a draw at Murrayfield.

The pain and frustration of that match will be fresh in the minds of the England players who were on duty that day. However, I hope Johnson sits the squad down and puts on the DVD of that game, and our defeat by South Africa in November, to remind everyone what can happen if we don't get our basics right.

The enthusiasm and excitement displayed by the youthful element of the squad are driving us forward. They want to go out and play rugby, with Chris Ashton, Ben Foden and Toby Flood showing an appetite to express themselves at Test level, which is hugely encouraging in a World Cup year.

Up front, players such as prop Alex Corbisiero have come into the side and shown they are ready for international rugby. Corbisiero, who is 22, is very good in the loose and has been well thought of at London Irish, where he has been helped by coaches Toby Booth, Mike Catt and Neil Hatley. You can see that Neil has worked a lot with him because of the way he has come on in terms of his technique.

This is a good time for English props, although we haven't really had a poor period. When I came on to the scene in 1990, aged 21, there were world-class props such as Paul Rendall, Jeff Probyn and Gary Pearce and then came Phil Vickery, Trevor Woodman and Graham Rowntree, who is now the England scrum coach. The current props have a lot to live up to and that is exactly what they are doing.

In terms of my development, I was playing at Barking against much older props and getting a huge amount of experience as a teenager and that has been the case with Joe Marler, another prop who has impressed me. The young Harlequins forward was able to play first-team rugby for Esher in the Championship against gnarled old props who would have taught him about life in the front row.

Corbisiero has, obviously, been learning every week in the Premiership because he did such a great job when he packed down against Italy's Martin Castrogiovanni and then the powerful Nicolas Mas, of France.

Johnson now has a group of impressive young props, including Dan Cole, Corbisiero, Marler and David Wilson, plus Matt Stevens, who is making his way back after a two-year ban and getting game time with Saracens.

Scotland will be without Euan Murray, their tight-head prop, who does not play on Sundays for religious reasons, but they will still put out a big and aggressive pack coached by Andy Robinson. The former England coach will know all about Johnson's men and has the total trust of a Scottish squad determined to end their run of defeats in the championship by delivering a triumph at Twickenham.

With England unbeaten and the visitors without a victory, the neutrals will see only one winner, but how many times have the Scots upset our party?

I know from personal experience the Scots love nothing better than getting one over on England. However, I believe we'll move another step closer to a possible Grand Slam in Dublin.

Jason Leonard and the Evening Standard are supporting RBS RugbyForce, the community rugby programme that is improving club facilities across the nation. To find out more or register your rugby club for the RBS RugbyForce Weekend on 11 & 12 June, visit www.rbs.co.uk/rugbyforce.