Winning start: England captain Chris Robshaw
England profited from a self-destructing Scotland side to open their Six Nations campaign with a 13-6 victory at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Stuart Lancaster's new-look team claimed England's first win in the Scottish capital since 2004 but the result had less to do with a new-era of creativity that English fans had been hoping for than the hosts' inability to convert their chances into points.
Scotland led 6-3 at the end of a boring, error-strewn first half that saw both sides fail to seriously threaten the opposition tryline. On the basis of those 40 minutes and the day's earlier game in Paris, neither England nor Scotland will travel to Rome confident of victory this year.
With both sides flooding the breakdown, attacking opportunities from quick ball were few and far between. And rare chances to spread the ball were generally ruined by poor handling or aimless kicking.
An opportunistic try from England fly-half Charlie Hodgson just seconds after the restart sparked the game into life however.
A far more-exciting second period saw Scotland throw the kitchen sink at a well-disciplined English defence but the home fans were left frustrated as their team conspired to make a hash of a number of scoring opportunities.
A scrappy opening quarter ended the with scores locked at 0-0 as Dan Parks kicked most of Scotland's possession away and a series of handling errors and ruck infringements prevented England from finding any sort of rhythm on attack.
It took just over 22 minutes for the first points to be scored courtesy of the boot of debutant England centre Owen Farrell. The hosts took less than three minutes to reply however as the visitors failed to stay on their feet and Parks slotted an easy penalty to restore the status quo.
The Scots began to ply the pressure and Parks split the uprights once again just after the half-hour mark to give his side a deserved lead which they held until the half-time whistle.
The game desperately needed a try and it came within seconds of kick-off when Hodgson charged down a lethargic Parks on the Scottish tryline before pouncing on the loose ball.
Farrell's extra's gave England a 10-6 lead, prompting Scotland up the tempo and the men in blue did most the playing in the second half, dominating territory and possession.
The introduction of Glasgow half-backs Greg Laidlaw and Mike Blair added extra impetus to their attack but the hosts continued to be the architects of their own downfall.
Laidlaw came within inches - literally - from grabbing the lead for Scotland after a kick and chase, but the TMO ruled he failed to touch the ball down ahead of Ben Youngs, while Ross Rennie butchered a fantastic chance to put Blair through.
A late penalty from Farrell settled England's nerves and secured a winning start to a new era.
Man of the match: It's rare that a player from the losing side gets this award but number eight David Denton was a tireless grafter and a standout performer in Scotland's back row.
Moment of the match: Scotland's match cam be summed up it one moment. Ross Rennie's wasted opportunity when he failed to find the two runners on his outside and instead decided to hang on was classic example of the hosts' inability land the killer blow.
Villain of the match: No rough stuff to report.
For England:
Try: Hodgson
Con: Farrell
Pen: Farrell
Scotland: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 David Denton, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford (capt), 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Alastair Kellock, 19 John Barclay, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Graeme Morrison.
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Phil Dowson, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt) 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Ben Morgan, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Jordan Turner-Hall, 22 Mike Brown.
Venue: Murrayfield
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television match official: Tony Redmond (Ireland)
Comments
blametheref says...
Andy Robinson more or less took a gamble at half back and you don't gamble in the 6 nations opener at home, positivity is required at home always. Blair and Laidlaw were much better when they came on (too late) and should have started. Scotland had huge possession and could do nothing so it's obvious Andy Robinson is not the man for Scotland as he cannot solve the try scoring problem or sort the attack out. Michael Bradley will soon be the manager of Scotland I feel and should be the manager. I know some may think this daft, but Richie Gray should be converted to first centre for Scotland (Scotland have loads of second rows), as he has pace, attitude and 20 stone of bulk and at least he'd prise open some defences with his ball carrying and would be some answer to the problems Scotland have in getting over the gain line and getting go forward ball especially with runners on his shoulder, it's worth a try at least as there's no other solutions and a lot of teams these days on 2nd phase pass the ball to a forward anyway to take the ball into contact. Definitely worth trying...Scotland missed a sitter of a try to win when the back row forward with the scrum cap completely missed Blair's run, totally unacceptable at this level but I sometimes wonder was it the scrum cap that prevented him hearing Blair screaming for the ball, interesting question???...But Scotland need Michael Bradley, as he understands the Scot mindset and knows how to play with teams that need to grind out results
Posted 12:20 05th February 2012
7ton says...
Chubbylugs and JMehrtens
I thought the ref was playing penalty advantage to Scotland so try or not and even if there was pulling back it should have reverted to a Scottish penalty.
Posted 11:44 05th February 2012
lawynd says...
Scotland need something, someone, anything, to show them how to get over the whitewash. They've basically got everything else, and I think if Parks knew he could trust the team to rack up points in fives, you'd see his game change too, for those criticising him.
England were not brilliant; Ben Youngs is quite clearly not having a good season and should be benched, Dickson was far more accurate with his passing when he came on. Dowson was anonymous - Morgan did more in five minutes than Dowson managed in an hour. I don't know whether it was nervousness or stage fright, but the lack of basic skills (passing to the chest rather than the face or bootlaces in particular) was painful at times. I'm a little smug over the scrum though, given that I felt like the only person with faith in Corbisiero and Cole in the last week! ;)
Posted 10:59 05th February 2012
mlbp says...
Scotland have many problems to solve regarding their centres.Sean Lamont is not a natural centre and Nick De Luca was yet again his mediocre self. Shame Ansbro was unavailable. If Scotland cannot find a creative and reliable 10-12-13 partnership they will suffer this fate again and again and again. I love the passion the Scots put in every tackle, the fierceness of their runs, I remember the days of Finlay Calder, John Jeffrey, David Sole, the Hastings brothers, Gary Armstrong, Craig Chalmers and Iwan Tukalo... They at least should have the same passion, and some of the current players don't seem to. Accomplishment like those in the 90's can only be seen in Denton, Gray, Evans and a couple of others. That's sad for Scottish rugby, which deserves a lot better.
Posted 09:53 05th February 2012
ramm83 says...
@ quietbrit - I thought Strettle also had a good game, his rush defence was strong and he put in some decent hits. I'd add him to Corbs and Foden. I thought Hodgson did his usual when he puts on an England shirt and crumbled under the pressure a bit. Despite the try...
Posted 09:39 05th February 2012
Ramage says...
Well well well to think I stayed up late at night to watch rubbish like the game dished up by both teams. England were there for the taking but the headline on this report sums it up. Time and again England were let of the hook by the extremely poor finishing of the Scottish team. Poorly directed kicks, no idea where on the field they were playing thus taking the ball back to their own goal line and placing themselves under pressure, failure to catch or deliver decent passes. All of this is an indictment on the Scottish team and its coaching panel. It was a diabolical the number of elementary mistakes the Scots made in this game. My heart goes out to all the true Scots rugby fans who have to put up with this play. If Scotland were poor all England di was to feed off the Scots mistakes to relieve the pressure scored a very lucky try and showed no ability to take the game to the messed up Scots team, Whilst not having a great influence on the game the performance from Clancy too was substandard his failure to to clear the English players who slumped fell and pulled themselves around on and over the ball was a disgrace however no doubt his assessors will inform him of his poor performance and lack of decision making. How much of it will register with this referee will remain to be seen. I hope the next game I watch will restore my belief there is some good rugby still to be watched in the 6 Nations this year.
Posted 09:34 05th February 2012
stugur says...
Utterly sickening.
I am so fed up of Scotland time and time again doing so well only to knock it on near the end of the attack. I dont see ball skills that bad in anything U12.
Piss poor!
Parks has to go for good. He has helped us squeeze a win here and there but he has NO passing game apart from the little gay 4 foot pass behind that fools no one and when his kicking game is off, he has nothing to contribute.
Weir to start and Laidllaw of the bench
Ref wasnt great (Robshaw the new McCaw? i.e invisible handling on the ground.) But brought everything on ourselves, an absolutely terrible performance, not worthy of professionals.
England did nothing particularly good, we just gave them everything they wanted.
NOT ACCEPTABLE
And dont blame AR, he isnt asking the players to knock on the ball!!!!!!
Posted 07:56 05th February 2012
Kappelange says...
i must say looking at that england backline i dont see any creativity or x-factor, i bet a curry cup Cheetahs or Lions team could whip them. Not a single bok, black or wally would be frightened by that backline, i just dont see where the tries are gonna come from
Posted 07:47 05th February 2012
davodiablo says...
Highlights editor scratched his balls for something to do !
Posted 05:28 05th February 2012
Sincero says...
Worst. Match. Ever.
Fluke try against the run, the bounce of a ball, but in reality two teams that need to be ashamed of themselves. But Scotland blew it... again.
Posted 00:29 05th February 2012
thewalker says...
It was a piss poor game by both teams. Dan Parks needs to be droped like a stone was he playing for Scotland
Posted 00:12 05th February 2012
quietbrit says...
On the positive side England won and with the exception of Dowson the green players did OK. In white Corbs and Foden were the only players who did all that could be reasonably asked of them.
For Scotland they broke first up tackles and got in behind the defense. Their new No 8 is very good indeed. Richie Grey is still a fine player. However they still don't know how to score.
Posted 23:47 04th February 2012
hayj05 says...
Glad I didn't watch this one, sounds like a right old snore fest Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
Posted 23:41 04th February 2012
crunchfit says...
Try: http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq336/bbb3dd/sads.jpg
That shows it was a try. The only reason people would say that no downward pressure was exerted is because they don't understand what pressure is. If his hand is touching the ball and the rest of his body is off the ground, it would be nearly physically impossible not to exert some degree of downward pressure, even if it is a very small amount. Anyway, we can tell for certain that he did exert downward pressure when we see him stop the ball rotating.
Posted 22:24 04th February 2012
ramm83 says...
@ruckingkiwi - this is the northern hemisphere... it's not the rugby union you guys know...
Posted 22:21 04th February 2012
crunchfit says...
@carpelone
And again. Your grudge is pretty damn petty. Get over it mate.
Posted 22:16 04th February 2012
crunchfit says...
Painful and frustrating to watch that. Should have been more tries, and Scotland should have scored.
As for that disallowed try, I think it was a try. I need to read up on the laws, but as far as I'm aware any downward pressure is sufficient. You don't need control of the ball. There was very slight downward pressure, even if the player never came close to gaining control. Those saying there was no downward pressure, I'm not really sure what match you're watching. His arm was moving downward when he touched the ball and he even made enough contact with the ball to stop it rotating. He could have brushed his little finger over the ball while it was touching the grass and that would still be exerting downward pressure.
Posted 22:13 04th February 2012
JMehrtens says...
@Chubbylugs
Yes thought of that too, might have been a bit harsh though, but he did held him back, reason enough for a penalty.
But I though the ref was still playing advantage at that moment so back too the initial offence. I was surprised that after the try was disallowed a 22 drop out was given. But than again it is totally up to the ref when advantage is over.
Posted 21:59 04th February 2012
Chubbylugs says...
Did anyone else think scotlands disallowed 'try' should have actually have been a penalty to England for taking a man out without the ball. I can't remember the scottish fellas name but he had to haul back youngs to get to the ball to ground it
Posted 21:18 04th February 2012
tombomb says...
the commentator on bbc was very negative about the ref i mean clancy was i thought pretty good not great but fair and consistent. at one point the commentator criticized Clancy for his penalty call against England for standing up in the scrum which is illegal but he said on national tv england was going forward so that law didn't matter the commentator is clueless not the reff. the handling skill's on show was very poor indeed. there will be more skill in the first five minutes of the wales Ireland game than this hole game wait and see!
Posted 21:07 04th February 2012