Debut try: Billy Twelvetrees
A strong performance from England saw them defeat Scotland 38-18 at Twickenham to retain the Calcutta Cup.
The hosts enjoyed large portions of possession in both halves and arguably should have come away with more points, despite racking up four tries through Chris Ashton, debutant Billy Twelvetrees, Geoff Parling and Danny Care.
Scotland were not without their moments - a brilliant break from full-back Stuart Hogg leading to the first try of the afternoon for the visitors - but they were forced into defence too often and conceded needless penalties at the breakdown when momentum was behind them.
Owen Farrell produced one of his best displays yet in international rugby, a long pass securing England's third try, whilst Twelvetrees lived up to the billing he has been given in recent weeks in the build-up to the beginning of the Six Nations.
The victory means that England will travel to Dublin with confidence, but also aware that there is plenty to work on if they are to finish this year's championship with a title.
A burst from Ben Morgan set England on their way early on, winning the penalty phases later which Farrell converted for a 3-0 lead after two minutes.
England controlled the opening phases, going close with attacks from Wood and then Ashton with little errors causing them to lose possession - but it was a stunning break from Hogg that brought Scotland into the game as he scorched though frozen English tacklers and ended up close to the line.
Scotland controlled possession metres out before Greig Laidlaw drew the tackle of Geoff Parling to put Sean Maitland in the corner to score on debut.
Farrell responded with a penalty to give England a 6-5 lead. A loose pass from Richie Gray then put Scotland under intense pressure on their own 22, England winning the penalty at the breakdown for Farrell to add another three points.
England were immediately penalised from the restart for entering the side of a ruck, handing Laidlaw a penalty chance on the edge of the 22 which he duly converted to narrow the gap to a single point at 9-8.
The hosts struggled to convert several chances in the red zone before a chargedown off the back of Farrell created another opening - Twelvetrees gliding through a gap before Chris Ashton squeezed under two tacklers to score England's first try.
Neither side was able to establish a foothold in the opposition's half during the closing stages of the opening 40 minutes, until a high tackle on Morgan led to another penalty for Farrell to send through the posts.
Johnnie Beattie responded with a powerful run for the Scots which ended in a penalty nearly 30 metres out, Laidlaw converting to leave the score at 19-11 at the interval.
England started the second half with a bang - Billy Twelvetrees eventually crashing over for a try on debut after a great pass from Ben Youngs.
Farrell continued to turn up the pressure in an assured performance, pinning Scotland back into their half. Any momentum generated by the Scots a few minutes later was then killed off for a simple penalty, putting England back on the attack.
The hosts fluidity and power eventually proved too much for Scotland to handle, with Joe Launchbury appearing to cross over for a third try before the play was called back for a high tackle.
A burst from Ben Youngs however threw England back into Scottish territory, Farrell spinning a brilliant wide pass to Geoff Parling to go over in the corner for England's third try.
Scotland's defence continued to struggle throughout the second half, but a turnover near their own life breathed life into their attack, Alex Goode was wrapped up by four blue shirts to concede a penalty in his own half with Jackson kicking to the corner.
Their efforts though were in vain as replacement David Denton knocked on heading for the try line. The resulting scrum did not go England's way and Scotland had another chance, but their efforts once again were undone at the breakdown.
England continued to show the greater invention in attack but a breakaway score from Hogg gave Scotland hope - Maitland's kick gathered by the rapid Hogg who scored in the corner with Laidlaw converting.
An error from Mike Brown then saw him penalised for holding on inside England's 22, handing Scotland an opportunity with a five metre lineout which they failed to make the most of.
England switched the momentum back their way and finished things off with a fourth try in the 80th minute, replacement Danny Care sniping around the fringes to leave the final score at 38-18.
Man of the match: Excellent handling, pace and kicking from Billy Twelvetrees on debut saw him cap it off with a try on debut.
Moment of the match: After being disallowed a third try, Ben Youngs had Scotland scampering and ultimately led to the score from Geoff Parling, putting the game out of reach.
Villain of the match: Scotland's 19 missed tackles meant that today was always going to be a struggle.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Ashton, Twelvetrees, Parling, Care
Cons: Farrell 3
Pens: Farrell 3
For Scotland:
Tries: Maitland, Hogg
Cons: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 2
The teams:
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Toby Flood, 23 David Strettle.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown (capt), 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Moray Low, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Alastair Kellock, 20 David Denton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Max Evans.
by Ben Coles
@bencoles_
Comments
rugby_rockstar says...
Ahem.... okay then. Testing 1,2,3. lalala... Okay... HIT IT!!!!!
WAHEY! WE WON!
WE GOT THE CALCUTTA CUP! THE CALCUTTA CUP! THE CALCUTTA CUP!
WE GOT THE CALCUTTA CUP! LALALALA!!!!
SCOTLAND DON'T HAVE THE CALCUTTA CUP, THE CALCUTTA CUP, THE CALCUTTA CUP.
SCOTLAND DON'T HAVE THE CALCUTTA CUP, BOOHOO, BOOHOO, BOOHOO.
Posted 16:54 07th February 2013
APV1 says...
Great game and a great result.
Strettle needs to be replaced by Foden. Goode onto the bench, with Brown at 15.
36 at 12, with Tuilagi at 13. Barritt on the bench.
I was a little worried by 36's first 10 minutes, but after his shaky start, he played brilliantly.
Farrell vs Burns? Start with OF and bring Burns off the bench for now. That may change as Burns gets more Tests under his belt.
I think one of the reasons we beat Scotland (other than we're just arrogantly AWESOME!) is that they tried to outplay us in the tight, when they had four wingerr on the pitch. All 4 were dangerous with ball in hand, but they didn't get it enough.
@ cayzam & porridge_time - don't be such nobs. melkdave (and others) can't spell. So what? I can't get a spell-checker to work on the forum and I'll be damned if I'm going to type in Word and then paste it over. The boards are full of typos - dyslexia and English not being a first language being obvious issues - but simple mistakes too. If you're so offended by poor spelling and grammar on a Rugby site, you need to think again.
@ all who like melkdave's posts - Hear! Hear! I don't mind the acronyms tbh, as we have a limited character-count. Perhaps new_j4a could become j_4_m..!
@ Dafydd29 - are you drunk?
@ porridge_time - "you're" as in "you are" - you hypocritical twerp! Your apology is too little too late imo - the genie is out of the bottle.
@ melkdave - your contributions are informed, intelligent and very welcome. Ignore the nobs.
@ all - remember that good grammar is the difference between knowing your sh!t and knowing you're sh!t.
But correct use of capital letters is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse...
;-)
Posted 11:26 04th February 2013
pierredelot1 says...
Well Spartacus fans of Mr Rolland are few and far between and I confess I'm not one of them, but I can't find anything to quibble with on this one. England came out of the blocks, laid down a marker and really went for this one, poor old Scotland despite some resistance were really blown away and were lucky that some bad English decision making and indecision let them in for the points they got. Hogg however is a class act and showed both England fullbacks on view how to play the game. Goode and later Brown both showed weakness in defence and decision making at the top level which would have been punished against the better teams. Twelvetrees however made me grin, I would have liked to see Joseph but even having one centre who can play heads up rugby, take men on at pace, give and show the ball, just showed what England have been missing. Lancasters choice must now rest between playing Tuilagi or Barritt and leaving Twelvetrees well alone. However its BOD next week and he will throw up weaknesses if there are any. Farrel was total cool and total control, the long missed pass for the try was a true illustration of his vision. Flood can stay on the bench he's not a centre. Can't find too much to moan ablout really, Youngs clearly better than Hartley, whilst the difference betwen Care and Youngs is minimal, but Youngs had a great game. Next Sunday should be fun, lets hope Ireland keep the scrums up and make it a fair contest. Before this game few would have looked at England for Lions contenders but a few names are beginning to creap out of the woodwork. Slow but sure lads, but you'd better win next week, it will be tough. Pancreac, you can always go to specsavers.
Posted 11:25 04th February 2013
melkdave says...
@Porridge_Time
No problems ,,and thank you for your understanding,also please remember that every post looks like it has spelling mistakes to me.Even though i assume its a 100% correct.Also i honestly have tried to get spell check to work on site,but it just wont..At least not for me.
Posted 11:25 04th February 2013
Waz4before says...
@ new_j4a - love your comment re forward pass and "schoolboy mis-understanding" .. that is so true and the best description I've yet heard for one of the most misunderstood aspects of rugby, particularly running rugby where the majority of passes are forward by the very nature of physics !! i await pantreac's response with baited breath (whatever that is!!)
Posted 06:34 04th February 2013
JamieTheProp says...
When you consider that before the game most people had an England win by only 3-6 points this is an excellent result!
I managed to find a bar in Melbourne showing the game but when it started at 4am I must admit I was more than a little bleary - especially after watching the Wales v Ireland warm-up game. So not 100% on the England performance - looked OK from where I was sitting though!
Still lots to work on but with a debutante in the centre and still an inexperienced team against Scotland in the first game of the 6 Nations I'll take that.
Be interesting to see if Ireland have learnt their lessons against our scrum and if they can gain parity in the forwards - if they can it will be a hard game for England (possibly a step too far). If our forwards can dominate however then we have a good chance (need to keep the ball away from BOD and co!
I love the 6 Nations - best tournament on the planet by a mile (especially with France losing).
Posted 01:13 04th February 2013
carpelone says...
Good performance by the English, disappointed by Scotland.
Posted 23:31 03rd February 2013
new_j4a says...
@porridge_time, I salute you....takes a big man to do that.
Posted 22:58 03rd February 2013
new_j4a says...
@pantreac can you please explain your understanding of a forward pass? Also, which law discusses an "illegal try?" Just interested. Or is this your term? If so please explain it. But first the forward pass explanation....I suspect we'll find that you suffer from a fairly common schoolboy misunderstanding of the Law.
Posted 19:22 03rd February 2013
porridge_time says...
@melkdave... want to take this opportunity to apologies for any negative remarks made regarding your spelling and grammar in light of your dyslexia.
Looking at Italy today I feel that Scotland will seriously struggling with them next weekend. The commitment shown by them was immense and I feel that they could seriously challenge all nations.
Kelly Brown has to move to the blindside, Beattie stays at eight and they bring in a genuine openside flanker. Denton needs to warm the bench in my opinion as I feel he is suffering from lack of form or complacency. Jim Hamilton and Euan Murray are real throw backs and should get nowhere near the Scottish squad again.
Jackson is pure and simply not a test level ten and has to go... promote the Heathcott or Weir. Leave Laidlaw at nine, tell Matt Scott we need more creativity and give Sean Lamont another run at 13.. back three were very good with limited opportunities.
But first and foremost Scotland need to look at what Italy brought to Fance and match or better that.
Posted 16:59 03rd February 2013
lacroix says...
compared to ireland and wales this was a very accomplished performance by england. farrell was very impressive behind a pack that performed extremely well. sure there were mistakes and some question marks remain over a few players in the 23 , but this england team look worryingly sound to this frenchman.
Posted 14:46 03rd February 2013
kybone says...
cayzam- I've just read all three pages of comments on this thread, and your constant insults of Melkdave were the worst of them. No one makes you read the comments below the article and who the hell is worried about being grammatically correct on a forum which is intended for posting quick comments in shorthand form if you wish. Pity you've got nothing else to worry about other than how often Melkdave posts on this site, and how many spelling mistakes he makes while he's at it.
Posted 11:43 03rd February 2013
pantreac says...
There is no question that England deserved the win today. Saying that I was disappointed that the Refs had such an influence in both games today! In the Welsh match the ref gave-up reffing the Welsh at the breakdown for the whole of the sec half. Also by wrongly penalising the Irish at the breakdown he put doubt in their minds and warning them with yellow cards he caused them to hold back, resulting in the 'improved' possession for the Welsh. Unfortunately the same applied in the English match and that coupled with the blatant forward pass for Twelvetree's try resulted in England being able to dominate the game. The ref penalised Grey for 'falling' on a ruck when in fact he tripped on an off-side English player lying on the ground, in the next two passages of play England won two rucks by flopping on their own players and sealing off the ball.
I feel that I must make a comment on the dreadful coverage by the BBC and the lack of objectivity by their commentators! No reason for the yellow cards was shown in any replays and no real comment on the match or interviews after the Welsh match. Moore's only comment on the illegal try was dismissing the fact that the pass was forward then silence. Imagine the outcry if Scotland had scored an 'illegal' try!
Posted 11:42 03rd February 2013
Fozza says...
How close were all the gray knockers watching this game? About as close as PR clearly as it was David Denton who threw that pass!!!!
Posted 11:21 03rd February 2013
heart_of_oak says...
trelawney - yes, I know, thanks. But my point is that I see 12trees as our PERMANENT best IC and that I'd like to see him with Manu at OC from now on. I'd not consign Barritt to history however (which is what we ought to do with Strettle) but I'd have Barritt on the bench in the event that we need someone with better defensive skills than either 12strees or Manu.
For me, 12trees brings more creativity to the midfield and Manu brings power. This is a combination that could be great for us. But there are games or rather opposing teams when I'd start with Barritt. These would be games where the opposing team had a very powerful centre. I think I'd start Barritt in the France game for example. Come to think of it, BoD is such a wonderful, skillful player that it might good to keep Barritt in place, to mark BoD. It sounds like a very defensive strategy but we can't ignore the threat that BoD poses.
Which brings me to the question of the Irish strategy which I know I should post on another thread but I can't be arsed. That question is the Irish strategy for that game against Wales. Don't you all think the Irish played a very clever game indeed ? Knowing they couldn't compete in terms of size and power with the Welsh back line, the Irish starved that back line of possession. And in fact, the way it turned out, those big Welsh 3 quarters were having to defend against smaller, more nimble Irish players like BoD, Zebo and Gilroy. In other words, by playing to their strengths, the Irish exposed a Welsh weakness. It was a very clever game that the Irish played.
Posted 11:04 03rd February 2013
whatisthis says...
@ tv addict
love the look of that team. would switch halfpenny and hoggs positions tho and have mike brown on the bench as well for a 23 man squad with 2 props...
Posted 11:01 03rd February 2013
Jediboy says...
Dafydd29 - I notice that you've not commented on the Wales match. Understandably so you might say.
It's a bit sad that you choose to make silly comments here, rather than comment on Wales. (pardon me for making the assumption that youre welsh!)
It speaks volumes when a 'fan' would rather have an injustified dig at England rather than support your own team.
Posted 07:44 03rd February 2013
PREEST says...
Being a Kiwi and neutral viewer, it was awesome to watch our boy Sean Maitland score on debut. He won't be the finisher he was for the Crusaders however, as he doesn't have the quality players inside him going over the gain line regularly and breaching first line defenses.
Spirited effort by the Scots. Their Attack is bad because their ruck ball is too slow, their runners onto the ball are too flat, they never shift the ball wide, they are two one dimensional and easy to shut down.
On defense they sat back and let England run at them, giving England easy metres and momentum. They need to move up as a unit and shut down the runners. England did this superbly. See how fast they were up on the Scottish attack? Resulted in a few charge downs and constant turn over ball. You can't let attacking teams run freely and wait for them to hit the line before you tackle. You need to meet them. The Scots opted to not commit numbers to the rucks so they should not allow England to run so freely when they have numbers defending.
Posted 06:01 03rd February 2013
cayzam says...
Don't get me wrong - I enjoy reading melkdave's posts. I know this is a rugby site, and not a language forum, but imho we should all be able to spell and use grammer correctly, for goodness sake. Many people have sexdaily; I mean dyslexia; which is why I suggested he try spellcheck. Rotflmfao atm tbh.
On the rugby played today, Wales need to believe in themselves from minute one, Ireland need someone capable of steadying the ship when its starts rocking, England are showing some signs of promise with some good young players coming through, and Scotland need more than three international players.
Posted 03:36 03rd February 2013
Waz4before says...
11 try's in the first two games is a great start, hope It continues in Rome; I think the final scores in both games reflect the games played although Ireland's near collapse is somewhat masked, Wales again unlucky? Now reading PRs somewhat lukewarm assessment of England (and somewhat glowing assessment on Ireland) I searched the local Aussie media and here's some of their quotes on England:
"England thrash scots", "England produced a four-try performance full of energy, aggression and ambition to get their Six Nations campaign underway with an impressive and highly entertaining 38-18 win", "Owen Farrell offered the latest reminder of his class with a superb showing. His metronomic boot is a priceless asset for England but he is an equally impressive playmaker"," The pressure was on England to back up their mauling of the All Blacks with another impressive showing and they did just that","Terrific England passing","England produced a similar display of intensity, energy and running" ... So slightly more glowing than PR and their trolls might have you believe!
But on reflection, a junior england side with very little experience produced a very good display to follow the kiwi win and suggest bevy leaned lessons from th two previous defeats. Still very much a work in progress but clearly Lancaster is making good progress and having built a strong defensive capability the attack is now also progressing. Scotland I thought were "as expected" but I'm liking Johnson more and more so I hope he gets a longer stint than just the 6Ns. The games next week will be crucial, Scotland's chance to avoid desperate straights and a Wooden Spoon by beating Italy, and England will face their toughest test yet in Dublin - can wait :-)
Posted 02:57 03rd February 2013