Scotland A showed their senior side the way forward on Friday by holding on for a 13-9 victory over the England Saxons at Kingston Park in Newcastle.
For the second year running the underdogs claimed the spoils as Saracens wing Duncan Taylor scored the only try of the game in the opening minute before the visitors put on a brave defensive effort to hold the Saxons at bay, despite being reduced to 13 men in the closing minutes.
In difficult conditions, the hosts could manage just three penalties via the boot of Leicester fly-half George Ford.
In a howling wind and in front of a crowd of 6,480, right wing Taylor gave the Scots the perfect start when he latched onto an attempted touch-finder from Ford and bolted home.
Tom Heathcote's conversion gave Scotland a 7-0 lead before trading penalties with Ford to leave the scores at 10-6 at half time.
The Scots were playing the more expansive game with full-back Greig Tonks threatening repeatedly and Heathcote's second successful penalty extended the lead.
Ford kicked his third penalty as the rain turned to sleet to keep Jon Callard's side in the hunt and a comeback win looked on the cards as Scottish props Grant Shiells and Jon Welsh saw yellow in the last ten minutes to set up a dramatic finale.
The English laid siege to the Scottish line in the dying minutes but were unable to breach the blue wall.
The scorers:
For England Saxons:
Pens: Ford 3
For Scotland A:
Try: Taylor
Con: Heathcote
Pens: Heathcote 2
Yellow cards: Reid, Welsh
England Saxons: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 George Ford, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Jordan Crane (capt), 7 Will Fraser, 6 George Kruis, 5 George Robson, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Matt Mullan
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 George Lowe, 23 Kyle Eastmond.
Scotland A: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Duncan Taylor, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Sean Kennedy, 8 Ryan Wilson (capt), 7 Richie Vernon, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Tom Ryder, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Steven Lawrie, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Alun Walker, 17 Grant Shiells, 18 Gordon Reid, 19 Robert McAlpine, 20 James Eddie, 21 Jamie Stevenson, 22 Ben Cairns, 23 Dougie Fife.
Comments
porridge_time says...
Hint of sour grapes from English fans here.
Posted 14:59 02nd February 2013
Honestpom says...
Scotland deserved the win but getting the 2nd prop sin-binned for me actually won them the game as a penalty try was looking extremly likely and it went to uncontested scrums. Although 15 v 13 gave England a good chance in those cold blustery conditions always more of a chance of a knock-on out wide than the scrum suddenly going wrong. Maybe in similar conditions the attacking team should actually have the choice of wether or not the prop gets binned ?
Posted 10:46 02nd February 2013
LastMan says...
This was an absurd end to a game! Scotland scrum under pressure 5 meters out- prop yellow carded. England call for scrum again- second prop goes! Now it Has to be uncontested scrum... How can having 2 players carded be allowed to be an advantage as it was to Scotland????
And JORDAN CRANE!!! Obvious thing was to go for the corner and maul it over the line. Instead as Captain he decides to surprise his own team and go it alone. What a Captain!!!!
Posted 10:25 02nd February 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Agh! well done Scotland! And I said Saxons would do better on the scoreboard than England would. I'm now very worried I might be right.
Posted 07:55 02nd February 2013
keste03 says...
This is game showed that Ford still has a lot to learn - his game lacked in every department. But well played to Scotland, the defended well and played the conditions.
Posted 06:16 02nd February 2013
tellitlikeitis says...
The ref tried his best to get the win for England but he just couldnt swing it. Two yellow cards in the final 5 minutes, the second of which was completely ridiculous. Dudly looked worried that the RFU wouldnt let him ref any of their big international games in teh future.
Hard luck Duds, but hey, at least you won't be a George Clancy now, giving every vein of English rugby every 50/50 he can..
Scotland by far the better team, deserved the win completely.
Posted 03:05 02nd February 2013
melkdave says...
A good game in terrible conditions,and fantastic defence from Scotland to get the victory.But i womdr if A.Dickinson ,was really to bad to come on,and aviod uncontested scrums.or was that a little gamesmanship from the management .Neverless its a scottish victory,and deserved in many respects.Scotland A had a great start from a bad Saxons start,and played on the front foot ,causing alot of problems. and then hung on ,again a deserved victory in many ways .
Posted 23:02 01st February 2013
scot_rsa says...
Great stuff Scotland A, sounds a gutsy effort. Tonks surely isn't far off an international call-up, showing good form and has a big boot. This on the back of the 7s news means Scotland fans have something to smile about again. Great stuff.
Posted 22:53 01st February 2013