Kelly's eye on hitting heights again in Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham

Published: 17:58 EST, 30 January 2013 | Updated: 18:07 EST, 30 January 2013

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Kelly Brown will take a few minutes out in those tense hours prior to the Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham on Saturday to phone his coach for some one-to-one guidance.

Not a rugby guru with tips on how to beat England but a fellow stammerer who will provide the Scotland captain with the confidence and support to negotiate one of the most important days of his life.

'Speaking well gives me a lift,' Brown told Sportsmail. 'And it can transfer to my performance on the pitch.'

Captain's job: Brown will lead his side into battle at rugby HQ on Saturday

Since joining a programme to improve his speech — the same choice of singer Gareth Gates — Brown talks a better game and says he plays a better game to boot. Not that a stammer, which materialised during childhood, prevented him from becoming the 32nd Scotsman to pass the 50-cap mark.

There was, too, the shining example of his stammering father, Nigel, making light of his condition to become an after-dinner speaker.

‘My father gave me three things — my stammer, a girl’s name and these eyebrows,’ Brown said, pointing to a pair of black beauties. ‘Thanks Dad.’ He is joking. Unlike the said intention of Johnny Cash’s ‘Boy Named Sue’, the boy named Kelly has no plans to gun down his father.

Brown resolved to tackle his problem after watching a recording of a difficult television interview. But there had been many previous rugby occasions when he felt hamstrung.

‘I’d sit in team meetings and think I have a good point to make. But I was not sure if I could either say it or say it in a way that would drive the point home in the most effective manner. So I kept quiet.

‘The programme is not about trying not to stammer. It is about becoming an eloquent speaker. The sports analogy is playing to win instead of not to lose.’

Final preparations: Scotland are hoping to upset England's party in the Six Nations opener

Brown’s first year at Saracens brought a Premiership title and several fines in the player court ‘for being Scottish’. ‘It is just the usual banter. Chris Ashton will start it, something about the Scottish team being useless. We will try to smash each other for 80 minutes on Saturday and then be friends again.’

This is Brown’s second spell as Scotland captain. The first lasted ‘three days and no games’. He had been given the armband prior to the 2012 Six Nations only to suffer a dislocated tibia. Andy Robinson tried again for the Autumn series but that yielded three games and no wins, culminating in a humiliating loss to Tonga.

‘That was the low point of my career,’ Brown said. ‘It happened on my watch.’

Brown began his Six Nations career at Twickenham in 2007 with a 42-20 defeat. Two years ago he was knocked cold in a collision with Matt Banahan. It has not been a happy hunting ground. Nowhere has been. Brown (and Scotland) have won only five Six Nations matches in the last six seasons. ‘To be successful we need most of the squad playing at 95 per cent. Then we could beat anyone. If not, we could lose to anyone.’

At least Brown’s Captain’s Speech should be as inspiring as The King’s Speech.

HQ humbling: Scotland's last win at Twickenham came way back in 1983

Scotland's Kelly Brown launches the GUINNESS Made of More RBS 6 Nations campaign. For more information on how you can win flights to Rome as part of a VIP prize to see Ireland play Italy visit facebook.com/GuinnessIreland