Sunday, March 22, 2009
England see off brave Scotland at Twickenham
The Scots werent going to be an easy task though, and played hard, making the task a far more challenging thing than the ease at which England dismissed the French a week prior.
Tries were scored for England by Ugo Monye and Riki Flutey in the opening period, with the third being scored by Mathew Tait, two minutes from time.
Toby Flood kicked eight points with replacement scrum-half Danny Care adding a drop-goal which nudged England two scores in front with eight minutes left.
Scotland have now lost four out of their five matches, with their only win being that over fellow strugglers Italy.
Frustrated coach Frank Hadden said: "As you can imagine it's a very flat changing room. Considering the territory and possession England had today, after 70 minutes we were in the game and had the opp to pull off a special win for our long-suffering supporters.
"But one or two elementary errors cost us."
England coach Martin Johnson was satisfied with the result.
"We lacked a little cutting edge in the second-half, there was a bit of fatigue. It was strange to have that domination of possession and territory but to lose the penalty count 2-1. But it was good that the guys played for a full game to get the win."
Time: 04:14
Posted at 3:05 pm | 31 comments
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Viewing 31 comments
Anonymous March 22, 2009 4:17 pm
The Scots always look dangerous but never seem to covert pressure into points. I think the England boys have now settled into a team...thank god. That was a hard match with some very hard hits. How did England come 2nd? Any way they did, good job Johnson!!
Kerivoula March 22, 2009 5:33 pm
Let's face it, not the greatest 6/5 Nations ever, btu always some good stuff there. Congrats to the Irish, they deserved it for their consistency which every other team lacked. Oddly, England I think could have won it had it not been for indiscipline. But were, so they didn't. But great for all to see an England side with confidence in their backs. Nearly all of their tries have been backs this season, and their running game is improving hugely. And what's the future for Scotland?
Anonymous March 22, 2009 5:37 pm
how good was monyes tackle! hugely important too, you can imagine patterson would have converted it so that would have put them 10-0 up early on. could have changed how the game went.
Anonymous March 22, 2009 5:43 pm
If Scotland manage to score more trys and not dependso much in Patersons's accuaracy it would be much more dangerous, I said!
Anonymous March 22, 2009 5:44 pm
England were the only team to improve during this tournament, but they've still got a long way to go.
Anonymous March 22, 2009 6:11 pm
Why are scotland always depicted as being 'brave' when they lose?
Steve March 22, 2009 6:54 pm
Was that Borthwick's demonstration of winning graciously? England players who run around after scoring tries or throw the ball into the crowd should go play football, there is no place for that in rugby. England also do too much talking in the press and should keep quiet between games and do their talking on the field instead of all this gamesmanship in the media. England deserved the win, even if it was partly due to Scotland's inability to score tries after periods of pressure or on the break. I think Frank Hadden has to go, he is a nice guy but has failed to find the potential of one of the best Scotland Squads for a while. He also has an ability to make the wrong decision every time. Barclay should not have been dropped, Taylor should not have been substituted and Cusiter should have been brought on much sooner.
Tomz March 22, 2009 7:10 pm
The england team are turning into a bunch of footballers!!The way they celebrate tries is terrible, particularly armitage
anonymous no6 March 22, 2009 8:50 pm
Haha can you blame them? It must be the relief/shock of finally putting together some reasonable rugby!Unless we start seeing those terrible choreographed football celebrations I don't really think it's that bad. And when will Scotland start playing some better rugby and winning more matches?! I don't understand how Hadden plans to improve the team?
Redron March 22, 2009 9:04 pm
Talking in the press is one way to win games, psychology is massive in pro sports.
Kember March 22, 2009 10:33 pm
People slate England when they don't score tries and now slate them when they do!What the fuck is wrong with you bitter and twisted little people?Get a life...
cp85 March 22, 2009 10:44 pm
Sorry, dont agree with the football comments. You don't see elaborate celebrations,it's just a release of adrenalin after scoring a try.Get over it. Saying that, I wouldnt like to see it go further, the point at which you see phil vickery doing a succession of backflips is when you know its gone too far. Have a look at jason robinson celebratiion after his try against australia (granted thats a world cup final).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjG60StEFdQAll off topic really, good win for England, great tackle by monye, another good game for flutey. Great to see a well contested six nations.
roddymac March 23, 2009 1:08 am
Well once again we weren't good enough at the crucial moments well done england took their chances. Still think both evans brothers,murray,hines,blair and maybe ford will make the lions squad-heres hoping!
roddymac March 23, 2009 1:11 am
Oh and i know im scottish but still dont think Flutey's try was grounded properly but he played well
Steve March 23, 2009 1:42 am
"Talking in the press is one way to win games, psychology is massive in pro sports"I have to disagree with this comment. One of the greatest things about rugby is the exceptionally good manner in which it is played, with players respecting referees and each other in that after the game the players are all very civil to each other. When Borthwick starts making accusations (which he is still to back up or justify) about the manner in which Scotland won the previous Calcutta cup match and when the England coaching staff start questioning referees "perception of the game" in the press it sets a bad precedent and is against the spirit of a previously well spirited sport. I'd like to see a stop in the current trend of young rugby players coming on to the scene and acting like footballers, going out and getting in fights in bars, drink driving charges, recreational drug use.
Redron March 23, 2009 7:04 am
What is there to disagree with, rugby is pro now, they are paid to win games. They will use any and all means (outside of straight out cheating) to achieve that. Doesn't mean I agree with some of the things players or coaches have said though.
Ted March 23, 2009 8:01 am
I'm with Steve on this - If England were good enough they wouldn't need to score cheap points in the press beforehand. Some of the 'stories' given to the press by the England management this campaign have left a bad taste in the mouth, for this England fan at least.Not a classic 6N, but lots to talk about nonetheless. Very pleased for the Irish and especially BOD who has deserved more silverware over a long career.
Anonymous March 23, 2009 11:01 am
roddymac, fluteys probably wouldnt have been grounded were it not for the scottish guys leg allowing him to keep control but nick easter had one a little bit after that which was on the line which everyone (including easter) missed. so it balances out
Anonymous March 23, 2009 11:12 am
Personally i couldn't be happier being english.....i think Martin Johnson will turn this England squad into somethng special, mark my words. When we get our discipline at the break down under control i believe this team will be as good as the SAs and Kiwis and not so glamarous Irish.
Anonymous March 23, 2009 11:14 am
i agree another good point about this england side is the strike rate for points per game, but can we do it against the allblacks?
andy March 23, 2009 1:35 pm
Steve by the sounds of it you just dislike the english, which is fine by me. There was nothing ungracious about the win or the celebrations, in fact the celebrations are very similar the the celebrations of the other nations. However you can't blame the players, they have been slated and slated and have had a pretty hard time recently. All you have to do is look at some of the comments on here (including yours) to see all the bad press they have been getting. Ofcourse MOST of the comments are unjustified, it's actually people like you who have an irrational dislike for the english. Just makes it sweeter when we do win.I think well done to them, considering highest points scorers and least conceded. Congrats to the irish, they've been a mediocre team for far too long. Now they just need to build on it. I personally still think Wales are the best team in the tournament and will form a large chunk of the Lions squad. I dread to think how many pints were sold in Ireland on Saturday night. my step mother (who's irish) was sh*tfaced and she doesn't even like rugby.
Abs7 March 23, 2009 1:43 pm
firstly I'm welsh, but i have to say how impressive joe worsley is looking for you guys... i think he may go to the lions.. secondly england are finally starting to look like a team... its worrying!!
cheyanqui March 23, 2009 5:08 pm
I think there has been an overall trend at trying to make the try celebrations more soccer-like.Lelia Masanga scored a try over the weekend, and did some dance right out of a football match.Honestly, I don't like the show boating by anyone, and that includes the one finger in the air while diving in (even though no one's around).At least the match doesn't stop for 90 seconds to accommodate the celebration, like in football. If/when that happens, we're all F-ed.
Steve March 23, 2009 5:23 pm
Andy, my comments are not purely directed at England, rather rugby as a whole. I merely use England as an example as have drawn attention to themselves with regard to this issue through thier choice to be vocal in the media and it was also in this side that personally I first noticed these traits. The players come under criticism for 2 reasons, the first, as you mention is about their performances on the field. These are professional players getting paid a good amount of money to play, so if they are underperforming should quite rightly be picked up on this. The second reason I am criticising them is for their performance off the field. Like it or not these players are in the public eye (this goes hand in hand with being professional rugby players so they should accept this when they sign their contracts which are paid for to an extent by television coverage). Recently, the players that spring to mind are Tindall for drink driving, Henson for kicking off in a club and Vainikolo for assault. Now this criticism is perfectly justified and represents in my opinion a disappointing direction in which rugby is headed. There will no doubt be players from other 6 nations teams that have embarrassed themselves in similar ways but I am unaware of them and was only aware of the Welsh player and 2 English players.
Steve March 23, 2009 5:28 pm
And I agree with cheyanqui, I saw that celebration and my heart sank.
Blonz March 23, 2009 10:40 pm
I'm sorry Steve but you clearly have singled out England - why no mention of Gatland being vocal in the press? Or the fact that players like Campese made it an art years ago? In fact you will find numerous examples over the years. I don't think modern players are more vocal, especially considering rugby now has huge interest and coverage on both tv and in the written press. It stands to reason that more interviews will be conducted and more comments made by players that could be highlighted by the media. You also clearly single out England regarding their celebrations too - when I see nothing wrong, or paticularly unusual, with the celebrations against Scotland. I suggest you look again.Well done Ireland, well deserved, although i have been a little disappointed with the rugby in general in the 6nations. Don't think the Boks would've seen too much to worry them.As for England - progress made. Top try scorers and least conceded, joint top point scorers, most turnovers, least handling errors and most passes made. Shame about the card count.
Ted March 24, 2009 7:45 am
Reasons to be cheerful, I agree Blonz, but nowehere near the finished article eh? I kinda wish there were a couple more games now that we're showing signs of improvement. As it is we could easily go to Argentina with a weakened squad and get pumped.
Chris March 24, 2009 11:51 am
Give over. Celebrations have been in rugby forever.They're not much more frequent than they were 20 years ago. Aslong as it isn't synchronised pish i really don't care.A finger in the air is hardly a big deal. I mean jesus christ, get a grip.The problem is not that rugby players occassionaly celebrate in the way you're stating. The problem is your elitist attitude. If you didn't register a finger in the air, or a kiss of the badge as a football celebration, i doubt you'd say much.If you people want to have a pop at celebrations that are gay. Look no further than the secret handshake bollocks Leicester and Wasps sometimes do. THAT is horrendous. Not a finger in the air!
HamishM March 28, 2009 5:45 pm
Uncontested scrums was an absolute joke. What a coincidence - Scotland in the game and the English kill off the game.The rules are there for player safety - it would have been perfectly safe for mears to come back on and Hartley to play prop. He'd have got shat on, but it would have been safe. Alternatively, have eight subs, at least three of which must be front row players. Shame on England.
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