Ryan Wilson claimed tunnel clash with Owen Farrell got him banned from Twickenham when Scotland managed 38-38 draw

The Six Nations only ended in October but it's back with a bang at Twickenham.

There won't be any fans for this one, so the question of whether Ryan Wilson is allowed in to watch has at least been settled.

3

The Scotland forward is not part of Gregor Townsend's Six Nations squad this year, which might make the pre-match formalities a little easier to manage.

At the Murrayfield game in 2018, Wilson was believed to be the instigator in some tunnel argy-bargy when the players returned to the changing rooms after the warm-up.

Footage of the incident shows all hell breaking loose when Owen Farrell barged his way past a number of Scotland players to confront Wilson, who had been attempting to get inside the head of George Ford.

Laughably, he claims his role earned him a ban from entering Twickenham the following year ahead of the mad 38-38 draw.

“I remember that game, I was actually injured and after tunnel-gate, after everything that happened in the tunnel against England, I’d lined up a corporate gig at Twickenham," he recalled to in November.

“Had it all lined up, a little bit of cash, all excited, only to get a message back saying the RFU have banned you from Twickenham Stadium after everything that happened the year before.

3

“It made me even more eager to get down there, sneak into the stadium and still get a couple of gigs. Genuinely the RFU said, ‘Listen, we don’t want him on the premises after some of the things that were said and done in the tunnel at Murrayfield.’

“It’s madness to think they would do that. But again another little win on my sheet just to know I had p***ed them off that much.”

So what had he actually said to Ford that enraged Farrell and saw the RFU decision makers take such apparent petty action?

Just a spot of psychological warfare, recalled Wilson.

"With England they go everywhere expecting to win," he said.

“I was coming down the tunnel, probably looking for Farrell more than anything else, and I couldn’t find him. It was just a word in George Ford’s ear just to say - I won’t tell you exactly what I said - but it was more just ‘we’re coming for you, you’d want to watch yourself’.

"Might have spoken about breaking some bones somewhere."

3

Asked if Ford threw the first punch, Wilson said he was grateful he didn't. "He would have floored me," he joked.

“Owen Farrell spotted it because he obviously knew what I was up to because he saw me talking to [Ford] as we were walking in after the warm-up.

"Owen came steaming down behind and he shoved me in the back and that was it, I sort of rolled down into the tunnel."

Wilson acknowledged it was a ballsy move given that it could have had the opposite effect, but it worked in Scotland's favour that day.

Three tries saw contributed to a 25-13 win, their first against England since 2008, while Wilson was later cited for foul play for a clash with Nathan Hughes, which he was later cleared.

Wilson has 49 caps for Scotland and in November, insisted the fire is still burning inside him to reach half a century and has told Townsend as much.

"I'll be doing all I can to get back in there. I know what I've got to do and I just need to put that on the field for Glasgow."

Wilson has not played for Scotland since the 2019 World Cup and added it is a 'killer' being stuck on 49.

"At the moment I'm not in Gregor's plans and I've got to do a little bit more. There's plenty left in this old man yet."